


Paper Shell Pecans 






0\ 



' 



MAY 29 1918 




^^=nHE horticulturist of the Keystone Pecan Co., standing half way 
V-*' up in the long front row of our bearing pecan orchard. As far 
as the eye can see, stretch row after row of fine big pecan trees, many 
of which have borne over 200 pounds of pecans in a single season. 

What better evidence could you wish of the adaptability of soil 
and climate to Pecan growing? 



All illustrations of pecan trees in this book 'were made from photographs taken on our 
plantation of nearly 3000 acres in Calhoun County, Georgia. 



"The pecan is a nut of immense economic value. The pecan furnishes 
practically a balanced ration. It is a highly concentrated and highly nutritious 
food. Compared with round steak, it contains one-twelfth as much water, 
two-thirds as much protein, from four to six times as much fat and has 
between three and four times as great fuel value. 

Pecans contain most of the elements essential to the building of 
the frame and body tissues. The food value of pecans is rapidly becoming 
generally recognized and it will nut he long before the pecan will he extensively 
used nut only as a substitute for certain classes of food, such as meats, but also 
a substitute for food of all classes." 

— United States Congressional Record, Jan. 12, [917. 



Table of Contents 

PAGE 

Economic Value of the Pecan 2, 6, 12 

Congressional Record — Pecan Facts 2, 5. 9. -5, 3 1 

Right Foods — the Increasing Demand 5 

Less Animal Flesh — More Pecan Meat 5, 6, 13 

Why America Must Eat Less Animal Flesh 7 

Nut Meat Gives Fat and All Needed Protein 8 

Nut Meat Superior to Animal Flesh 9 

Nuts Versus Beefsteak 10 

How to Make Food Plentiful 11 

Twenty Times as Much Food Per Acre i-' 

The Finer the Nut the Greater the Demand 14. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 

The Pecan — the Year Round Nut 15, 26 

What Is the Paper Shell Pecan '1 10, 18 

Th e Hardiest of All Nut Trees 17 

Hess Paper Shell Pecans 19 

Hess Pecans Please All Who Eat Them 20, 21, 22 

Tons of Hess Pecans Have Been Sold by Us 2$ 

Nuts Meet the Demand for Uncooked Food 25 

Maximum Food Value in Condensed Form 27 

A Test Which Proves the Best Pecans Cheapest 28, 29. 30 

The Big Problem — Establishing .Murk Orchard Units 31 

The Practical Answer — the Unit Plan 34 

The Unit Plan Explained a, 34, 35, 37 

Each Acre-Unit Increases in Value $100 a Year 38 

Units Fully Paid in Case of Death yj 

Average Yield of Orchard Units 39. 40 

Our Investors All Over the World 41 

You Are Invited to Visit the Plantation 41 

A Letter From One Who Visited Our Plantation 44, 45 

An Ideal Southern Home 42. 43 

Investigate the Company and Its Officers 46 to 53 

No Investment Could be Safer 54, 55 

Who Should Invest 55, 56 

Copyright. 1918 

By ELAM G. HESS 

Issued April. 1918 



"Pecan production is destined to become one nf the most important lines of orchard 
development in the United States." 

— Congressional Record of the United States, page 1101, Vol. 54. 

©CI. A 4 97536 



Foreword 



Food is the need of the day — of every day. 

Food is the need of the future. 

From the beginning of the world food production has been the most 
important of the activities of man — but food production has frequently taken 
uneconomic channels. Even before the war in Europe started, the tendency 
toward changing standards in food production was marked. 

In the Saturday Evening Post, November 29, 1913, on page 56, we read: 
"Tree crops is the next big thing in farming, says J. Russell Smith, after 
an 18,000 mile journey through the nut-growing countries." 

The man who is alert to changing food standards, who realizes how 
largely the cattle herds of the world have been depleted, who has learned how 
long it will be after the war is over before they can be built up, will see in this 
condition an opportunity paralleled only in a small wav by the noted investment 
1 ipportunities of the past. 

About a hundred years ago the railroad offered an investment opportunity 
which the Vanderbilts were wise enough to see — and to seize. You know that 
the Vanderbilt wealth lias lasted through generations — increasing year by year. 

About fifty years ago there was a similar opportunity offered in steel — 
demanded by the rapidly growing industries. The name of Carnegie heads 
tlie list of the famous "thousand steel millionaires" — made rich by foresight. 

Forty years ago electricity offered its opportunities to Edison — and to 
many others who have become extremely wealthy because they combined 
courage with \< iresight. 

Marvelous as have been the fortunes in railroads, in steel and in electric- 
ity, we are to-day, ^ays the Luther Burbank Society in its book, "Give the Boy 
a Chance," "facing an opportunity four hundred times bigger than the rail- 
road opportunity was a hundred years ago, eight hundred times bigger than 
electricity offered at its inception, fifteen hundred times bigger than the steel 
opportunity which .Mr. Carnegie found — because agriculture is just by these 
amounts bigger than those other industries." 

From land — the most permanent basis of wealth — immense fortunes of 
to-dav and to-morrow are being drawn. America is beginning to see a new 
vision, its agriculture is taking a newer, more profitable form. 

What is the Biggest Future in Agriculture? When fames J. Hill 
staked bis all in apples and received in return a profit estimated at ten million 
dollars — lie was merely a pioneer in the new type of farming, 



4 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Yet the pecan comes into bearing as early as the apple orchard 
and remains in bearing twice as long. Bulletin No. 41, of the 
Alabama Department of Agriculture. 

It is particularly significant that the strongest advocates of tree 
agriculture are those familiar with conditions in nut growing coun- 
tries. Consider that fact in connection with this statement of Luther 
Burbank, the Edison of Agriculture: "Paper Shell Pecans of the 
improved varieties are the most delicious, as well as the must 
nutritious nuts in the world. They are higher in fund value than 
any other nuts, either native or foreign." 

In the Country Gentleman, August 14, 1 9 1 5 , we read: "The 
tree that yields a pound or two of nuts at rive years of age is 
counted upon for twenty to fifty pounds by the tenth year, and 
after that the yield grows beyond anything known in fruit trees, 
because the Pecan at maturity is a forest giant." 

In the face of such facts, is it not wise to consider carefully 
the interesting facts on Paper Shell Pecans found within ? 

ELAM G. HESS, 



Keystone Pecan Plantation, 
Calhoun County, Georgia. 




Manheim, Lancaster, County, Pa., 

President of Keystone Pecan Company, 

Member of National Nut Growers Association. 

Pecans of the second class 
bring $12,300 a carload. As .'i re- 
sult of the superior merit of this 
class of pecans and the limited 
extent to which they are grown, 
they are now netting the growers 
in certain districts a value per 
volume of product ranking them 
among the highest priced horticul- 
tural products grown on a large 
scale in this country. Carloads 
weighing 36,000 pounds each were 
recently (Oct.. I0l6) shipped from 
the Albany district of southwest 
Georgia to Chicago brokers at 33c. 
a pound or $12,500 a car. These 
prices were for pecans of the sec- 
ond class, the firsts bringing still 
higher prices. — United States Con- 
gressional Record, Vol. 54, No. 22. 

Thos. F. Miller, of Allentown, 
Pa., under one of the trees in our 
large pecan orchard. 

It is such nut trees as this that 
Dr. Kellogg, head of the famous 
Battle Creek Sanitarium, calls "the 
most efficient means of converting 
sunshine into foodstuffs." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



Right Foods — The Increasing Demand 

No matter what may happen, the demand for nourishing foods 
is sure to grow so long as the population increases. Railn iads, steel, 
electricity — all are recent developments, none of them indispensable 
to mankind. But existence itself depends on nourishing foods. 

"Then," you saw "no business should be surer than that of 
supplying food to the growing population of America." 

Correct, provided you supply the right food. 

For food standards are changing. Prove that fact, if you 
will, by the figures of the U. S. Census Bureau fur the years igoo 
and 19 10. 

During that period the population of the Lnited States in- 
creased from 75,091,575 to 91,972,266 — an increase of virtually 
22 3/10 per cent. Therefore, the production of any foodstuffs 
should increase by the same percentage during that period to pro- 
vide for the same consumption per capita. 

Has the consumption of beef increased during that period? 
Apparently not — for there were 8.7 per cent, less cattle on the farms 
in 1910 than in 1900. X<>r was there any material increase in im- 
ports. The price of beef increased in that period — but not so 
greatly as many other prices. For the value of all cattle on Ameri- 
can farms increased only 1.6 per cent, between 1900 and 1910 — 
an increase only one-fourteenth as great as the increase in population. 

There was a loss of 7.4 per cent, in the number oi swine on 
American farms and a decrease of 14.7 per cent, in the number of 
sheep — the inevitable result of which loss while population was 



Food 
Standards 
are Changing 



Less beef, 
less pork, 
more 
nut-meat 



A loss of 
29 pounds 
per capita 
on animal 



increasing to the extent of 22 3/10 per cent, was an increase in flesh 
price per pound in pork, ham, bacon, mutton, etc.. which automatic- 
ally cut off a large part of the demand. 

President Wilson in urging the necessity for close study of the 
food problem pointed out the fact that there had been a loss of jo 
pounds of animal flesh per capita per year. With such a record 
for a pre-war period, the present and the future outlook is even 
more serious. 



Why Spend Millions for Imported Nuts? 

"We are annually importing between 60,000,000 and 70,000,000 pounds of nuts 
at a cost of between $12,000,000 and $13,000,000. while we export nuts worth 
less than a half million dollars. Why should we spend millions of dollars each 
year in buying nuts from foreign countries, when we can grow the pecan, tin- equal 
of any other nut. cither native <>r foreign, in unlimited quantities?" — Congres- 
sional Record of the United States, Vol. 54, Xo. 27. 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Nut con- 
sumption 
increases 15 
times as 
greatly as 
population 



The public 
forced to cut 
down on an- 
imal flesh 



Poultry Gains Fail to Equal Increase of Population 

Poultry was the only exception among meats to the history of 
diminishing supply, increased prices and diminishing demand. Yet 
the gain in the number of all fowls on American farms was only 
17 per cent., while the population was increasing 22 3/10 per cent.; 
while the American production of nut foods was increasing 55.7 
per cent, in the same period without beginning to meet the demand. 

Though the increase in value of the American nut crop was 
i.'S. 1 per cent., still the increase in consumption required an increase 
in imports so great that in iqio America was supplying only one- 
fourth of the nuts it was eating; while in 1900 it supplied half. 

1900, nuts raised in America, value $1,949,931 ; imported, $3,484,651. 191°. 
nuts raised in America, value $4,447,674: imported, S13.j4O.742. Total nut con- 
sumptin in L'. S. for 1900. $5,434,582; in 1910. $17,694,416. Nut consumption in 
1910 nearly 350% of 1900; increase in population 22 3/10%. Nut consumption, 
therefore, increased over 15 times as greatly as the population increased. 

This increasing consumption of nuts lias even continued with added force 
since 1010. despite the derangement of the world's shipping which lias affected 
many products adversely. In the American Nut Journal we read that in 1917 
America imported nuts t" the value of $32,865.014 — a figure nearly two and a half 
times as great as the importations of 1910. 

Even the man, or the woman, who has learned liv experience 
that nut meat is the healthiest form of real meat value is astonished 
when he or she takes these authentic figures of the United States 
Census Agricultural reports and import statistics to learn how many 
of the thinking people among his fellow countrymen have proved 
their belief in the same facts. And the man who has looked upon 
nuts as a holiday diet alone suddenly awakens to the fact that the 
statement, "nut meat is the real meat," is backed by a public 
consumption nearly three and a half times as great in 1910 as 
in 1900; an increase fifteen times as great as population made. 

Higher education in food values lias led people to realize the 
necessity for different and more varied diet — and this educational 
development has been facilitated also by economic conditions. 

As population increases, land becomes more valuable. As land 
becomes more valuable — intensive farming is practiced. Grazing 
becomes virtually impossible under such conditions; and despite 
all the efforts of the I >epartment of Agriculture experts, cattle rais- 
ing is pushed farther and farther from the larger centers of popu- 
lation. Increased transportation and costs of refrigeration mean 
increased meat prices — even the importation of large quantities of 
South American beef between 19TO and 1914, for instance, failed 
to keep meat at a low enough price where it could constitute the 
large food element which it once was on the American table. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



Why America Must Eat Less Animal Flesh 

The call of the United States Food Administration for meat- 
less days, for porkless days and fur every day a fat saving day, 
is teaching a lesson that America will never forget. 

Food experts have fur years emphasized the fact that Ameri- 
cans eat too much animal flesh. Physical Culture says : 

"About forty per cent, of our American bill of fare is of animal origin. In 
England the percentage is but twenty per cent, of the total food, in Continental 
Europe it is less, and in Japan it is not more than five per cent." Vet the Japanese 
have astounded the world in every test of endurance. 

"The American soldier is eating ioo per cent, too much meat." says the world 
famous Dr. Wiley: while Dr. Gordon J. Saxon, director of the laboratory for 
cancer of the Oncologic Hospital, Philadelphia, was quoted by the Philadelphia 
North American as ascribing the wonderful resistive powers of the French soldiers 
to the fact that they lived on a meagre supph, of high protein foods, like animal 
flesh, and were given an abundance of fats and carbohydrates. Me lays stress on 
the excessive cost of our American diet with its high "animal intake," and this 
is also emphasized by the booklet. "War Economy in Food," issued b\ the U. S. 
Food Administration, which characterizes animal flesh as the most expensive 
i staple foods in proportion to food value. 

As a people Americans are just learning that the cause of most 
of their bodily ailments is the securing of fat by eating animal flesh. 
As the Literary Digest well says in its .March 9th, 1918, issue: 

"Fats are chiefly valuable as fuel for the body. But in addition to being con- 
sumed and turned In energy, tuts are also readily stored away by the body, along- 
side muscle and bone; as a reserve in times of illness or physical exertion. 

Chief among the functions of protein is its importance as a builder of bodily 
tissues. It is structural. The part it plays is like that of iron in a locomotive." 

Once built, the body, like the locomotive, needs only sufficient 
building material (Protein) to rebuild wornout portions: hut it 
needs motive material ( fat ) in far greater proportion. Yet the 
high animal flesh diet, which was the American custom, puts into 
the system a far greater amount of protein than is needed and 
too little fat. The system cannot absorb this excess protein, and 
sluggishness, intestinal derangements, auto-intoxication and flesh- 
borne diseases are the inevitable result. 

"Fat is fuel for Fighters," says the U. S. Food Administra- 
tion. It urges civilians to avoid waste of fats because fats are 
necessary to those who must withstand extremes of climate, stand in 
water soaked trenches and indulge in extreme physical activity. 

As (, 1 hhI Health for March. [918, points out, "Fats are fuel 
foods ! The daily requirement is two to four ounces." 

There is a way to get this required quantity of fat without the 
excessive protein intake which is the inevitable result of our high 
animal flesh diet. By following this plan America can multiply 
its industrial efficiency, and benefit the physical welfare of all. 



Americans 
use twice as 
mucli animal 
flesh as 
any European 
nation 

Excessive in 
cost, wasteful 
and the 
cause of 
illness 



Fat is needed. 
Securing it 
through eat- 
ing animal 
flesh, is the 
source of 
trouble 



Fat is 

essential to 
withstand 
exposure 



Two to four 
ounces 
daily are 
needed 



8 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Nut produc- 
tion destined 
to exceed 
animal 
industry 



Pecans 
supply the 
proper ratio 
of fat and 
protein 



The public is 
changing 
from animal 
fats 



Nut Meat Gives Fat and all Needed Protein 

As Dr. Kellogg points out in his speech to the National Nut 
Growers Association, at Biloxi, Mississippi, Nature emphasizes the 
necessity of fuel foods and the need for less protein and albumen. 
\nd because of the growing knowledge of food values he adds : 

"To nuts, then, we must look for 1 the future sustenance of the race. 
Half a century hence the nut crop will far exceed in volume and in value our 

present animal industry." 

lie emphasizes the fact that all experiments have proved that "Nut protein 
is the best of all sources upon which the body may draw for its supplies of tissue 
building material." while at another point he adds, "On account of their high fat 
content they are the most highly concentrated of all natural foods." At great 
length, he compares the ease of assimilation of nut fats with those of the other 
source of fat, and concludes, "nut fats are far more digestible than animal fats." 

Necessity is the mother of invention. If America had utilized 
in the past its full opportunities to grow pecans — the best of all nuts 
in high fat content with the perfect ratio of protein — we could ship 
to our soldiers abroad the nourishment most needed in most con- 
densed form, protected from all contamination and free from all 
putrefactive bacteria. It would require approximately a tenth of 
the cargo space and would need no refrigeration. It would require 
no cooking; could be munched on the march, and would be assimi- 
lated more readily than animal fats and proteins. 

It requires but a glance at any newspaper or magazine to 
realize that vegetable fats are taking the place of animal fats — 
and that the source of virtually all the new products along this line 
is nut oil, the peanut and the cocoanut being the largest sources 
of supply to date. 

In our 1 9 1 5 Pecan Book we quoted Prof. H. Harold Hume, 
State Horticulturist of Florida, Glen St. Mary, Fla., as saying: 

"According to analysis, the Pecan is richer in fat than any other nuts, — 70 
per cent, of kernel is fat. The Pecan may at some time be in requisition as a 
source of oil — an oil which would doubtless be useful for salad purposes — but it 
is never likely to be converted into oil until the present prices of nuts are greatly 
reduced." 

Since then pecan prices have had a decided tendency to increase 
because the demand is growing more rapidly than the supply; and 
the chances of the pecan being used for oil are more remote than 
ever. Yet one of the great reasons for the increase in demand is 
increasing public knowledge of the pecan and its wonderful food 
value. For the pecan is proved richer in fat than any other nut, 
with the right proportion of easily assimilated protein, and free 
from any irritating membrane such as makes some nuts difficult of 
digestion by those who have stomachs. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim] Pa. 



Nut Meat is Superior to Animal Flesh 

Nut meat is not a substitute for animal flesh, but is Nature's 
food product for supplying fats and proteins, superior in every way 
to animal flesh. As Dr. Kellogg, head of the famous Battle Creek 
Sanitarium, said : 

"Nuts arc rich in fat and protein. On account of their high fat content they 
are the most highly concentrated of all natural foods. A pound of nuts contains 
on an average more than 3,000 calories or food units, double the amount supplied 
by grains, four times as much as average meats and ten times as much as average 
fruits or vegetables." 

For example, according to Jaffi's table, ten different kinds of our 
common nuts contain on an average 20.j c /c of protein, 53% of fat, 
and 18% of carbohydrate. Among all nuts the pecan has the largest 
percentage of fat and the best balanced proportion of protein — 12% 
protein, 70' c fat. and 18% carbohydrate. 

Meat ( round steaks ) gives 19.8% of protein and 15.0% of fat. 
with no carbohydrate. A pound of average nuts contains the 
equivalent of a pound of beefsteak and, in addition, nearly half 
a pound of butter and a third of a loaf of bread. A nut is, in 

fact, a sort of vegetable meat. Its composition is much the same 
as that of fat meat, only it is in much more concentrated form. 

There can be no doubt that the nut is a highly concentrated Nut Meat 
food. The next question naturally is, can the body utilize the if readily di- 
energy stored in nuts as readily as that supplied by meat products. sestl e 

The notion that nuts are difficult of digestion has really no 
foundation in fact. The idea is probably the natural outgrowth of 
the custom of eating nuts at the close of a meal when an abundance, 
more likely a superabundance, of highly nutritious foods has alread} 
been eaten, and the equally injurious custom of eating nuts be- 
tween meals. Neglect of thorough mastication must also be men- 
tioned as a possible cause of indigestion following the use of nuts. 

"The fat of nuts exists in a finely divided state, and in chewing 
of nuts a fine emulsion is produced so that nuts enter the stomach 
in a form best adapted for prompt digestion," says Dr. Kellogg 



The Pecan Makes More Progress than Other Nuts Made in Centuries 

"With practically no improvement as a result of culture and breeding, but 
taken directly from nature, many of the wild pecans afford an exceedingly de- 
sirable product. Unconscious, and, therefore, unsystematic -election and planting 
of pecan seed about dooryards during a period of less than 200 years has de- 
veloped varieties of such desirable quality that the pecans most successfully 
compete with other species, like the almond and the walnut which have been 
under cultivation for many centuries." — Congressional Record for January. 1117. 



10 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 




A portion of our bearing pecan orchard, with a few orchard owners in the foreground. 

Reading from left to right : Dr. M. W. Brunner, Thos. F. Miller, E. G. Hess, Mrs. 

C. J. Balliet, C. M. Rood, Dr. C. J. Balliet and Mrs. L. B. Clark 



Animal flesh 
supplies too 
much protein 
for bodily 
needs 



Nuts supply 
perfect pro- 
teins more 
abundantly 
than any other 
vegetable 
food 

Nuts clean, 
sweet and 
pure— do not 
deteriorate 
like flesh 



Nuts versus Beefsteak 

"Beefsteak has become a fetish with many people; but the experiments of 
Chittenden and others have demonstrated that the amount of protein needed by 
the body daily is so small that it is scarcely possible to arrange a bill of fare to 
include flesh foods without making the protein intake excessive. This is because 
the ordinary foodstuffs other than meat contain a sufficient amount of protein to 
meet the needs of the body. Nuts present their protein in combination with so 
large a proportion of easily digestible fat that there is comparatively little danger 
of getting an excess." 

In face of vanishing supply of animal flesh it is most comforting to know that 
meats of all sorts may be safely replaced by nuts not only without loss, but with 
a decided gain." 

Ann 11114 the other advantages of nuts over animal llesh which 
Dr. Kellogg cites are the freedom from waste products such as 
uric acid, urea, carmine, etc., which cause so many human ills. 

Nuts are clean, sweet and aseptic, free from putrefactive bac- 
teria ; while ordinary flesh foods contain three to thirty million 
putrefactive bacteria per ounce. 

Nuts are free from trichina-, tape worm and parasites, and 
from the possibility of carrying specific disease which is always 
present with animal flesh. "Nuts," says I >r. Kellogg, "are in good 
health when gathered and remain so till eaten." 



Keystone Pecan Company. Manheim, Pa. 11 



How to Make Food Plentiful 

The leading editorial in Good Health for March, 1918, em- 
phasizes the fact that "the cattle and pigs are eating up our food- 
stuffs." Milo Hastings lays stress on the same point in "The Ex- 
travagance of Meat," published in Physical Culture, and quoted 
widely by leading" periodicals. 

Even before the war in Europe had so greatly reduced the 
world's population of cattle and pigs the food supply problem was 
impossible of solution for the future unless a severe reduction in the 
American consumption of animal flesh compensated for the con- 
stantly decreasing" cattle range. Dr. Kellogg in an address at 
Biloxi, October, 1917, said that the officials of the United States 
Department of Agriculture foresaw this condition and the increas- 
ing prices for animal flesh over twenty years ago. Since then the 
increase of our human population and the decrease of our animal 
population has so greatly exceeded their estimated figures that the 
question. "Is meat imperative to complete nutrition?" has be- 
come an imminent one. 

Animal flesh supplies protein and fat. We have shown on page 
8 how nuts supply the necessary fat and protein. Dr. Kellogg em- 
phasizes the fact that nuts supply proteins of such a character that 
they render complete the proteins of cereals and vegetable foods. 

"This discovery is one of the highest importance since it 
opens a door of escape for the race from the threatened extinc- 
tion by starvation at some future period, perhaps not so very 
remote," adds Dr. Kellogg. 

"From an economic standpoint, the rearing of animals for food is a monstrous 
extravagance. According to Professor Henry, Dean of the Agricultural Depart- 
ment of the University of Wisconsin, and author of an authoritative work on 
foods and feeding, one hundred pounds of food fed to a steer produces less than 
three pounds of food in the form of flesh. In other words, we must feed the 
steer thirty-three pounds of corn in order to get back one pound of food in the 
form of steak. Such an extravagant waste can be tolerated only so long as it is 
possible to produce a large excess of foodstuffs. It is stated, as a matter of fact, 
that at the present time scarcely more than leu per cent, of the corn raised in the 
United States is directly consumed by human beings. A large part of it i- wasted 
in feeding t<> animals. This economic loss has been long known to practical 
men. but it has been regarded as unavoidable since meat has been supposed to he 
absolutely essential as an article of food." 

"In view of these facts it is must interesting to know that 111 
nuts, the most neglected of all well known food products, we find 
the assurance of an ample and complete food supply for all future 
time, even though necessity should compel the total abandonment 
of all our present forms of animal industry." 



12 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 




A panoramic view in our large orchards showing about half the length of one side which is not illustrated in the 
other pictures. Can you, looking forward fifteen years or more, see in this a picture of your own pecan unit- 
trees sturdy and healthy, their branches thickly covered with pecans, filling out under the summer sun ? 
The soil is the same, the climate the same, results should be better with the finer varieties planted 



3,000.000 
calories per 
acre from 
nuts; only 
150,000 
from beef 



Pecans 
make an 
even better 
showing 



Nuts as a 
substitute 
for milk 
and eggs 



Twenty Times as Much Food Per Acre 

Consider what it would mean it* America could take its many 
million acres of pasturage and get from each twenty times the food 
value! Of course, no thinking man would claim that every acre of 
pasturage is available for nut raising ; but where the change can be 
made, that gain is possible. 

As Dr. Kellogg points out, it takes two acres two years to produce a steer 
weighing 6oo pounds; an average of 150 pounds per year per acre. The same 
acre planted to walnut trees would, he states, produce 100 pounds per tree per 
year for the first twenty years ; which means 4,000 pounds of nuts from an acre 
of 40 trees. The food value of the 150 pounds of steer cannot exceed 150,000 
calories or food units ; while the nut meat from the same acre equals 3,000.000 
calories in food value. As Dr. Kellogg concludes, "Tivcnty times as much food 
from the nut trees as from the fattened steer, and food of the same general char- 
acter, but of superior quality." 

Yet these comparisons are based upon walnuts, in which the 
yield per acre averages lower than on paper shell pecans and on 
which the food value is not so concentrated. As Dr. Kellogg 
previously pointed out : 

"A pound of pecans is worth more in nutritive value than two pounds of 
pork chops, three pounds of salmon, two and a half pounds of turkey or five 
pounds of veal." 

While the price of nuts is by some considered high, Dr. Kel- 
logg directs attention to the fact that "even at present prices the 
choicest varieties of nuts are cheaper than meats if equivalent 
food values are compared." 

Experiments by Dr. Hoobler, Detroit and at Battle Creek Sani- 
tarium, prove that nuts "Possess such superior qualities as supple- 
mentary" or accessory food that they are able to replace not only 
meats, but even eggs and milk." reports Dr. Kellogg. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



13 



Nut Meat The Real Meat 

It must be remembered that the period in which the use of nut 
meat grew over fifteen times as quickly as the population increased 
was before the war conditions made every man consider food 
values more carefully. Right up till 1914, the year in which the 
war in Europe started, there was a steady increase each year in the 
production of nuts and the import of nuts, yet prices kept soaring 
on all the better varieties because the greatly increasing supply failed 
to keep pace with the increase in demand. 

Though the importation of nuts in 1010 had been valued at 
over thirteen million dollars, and this was nearly four times as great 
as m 1900 — it kept increasing until in 19 1 7 it amounted to nearly 
thirty-three million dollars. The importation of nuts in 191 7 was 
nearly ten times as great as imports for 1900, yet these imports and 
the increasing American production failed to meet the demand. 

These figures, from U. S. Government reports, show that any 
one who assumes that nuts are a holiday luxury is entirely wrong. 
The Pecan, for instance, which is native to America, keeps for a 
year or more in any moderately cool place without losing any of 
its flavor or food value, because Nature put an air-tight shell 
around the pecan meat — which in the finer grades of paper shell 
pecans has been developed to a point of perfection not even 
approached by the best man-made containers. 

That public demand for pecan nuts is increasing is proved by 
the increase of prices on even the commonest sorts of fifty per 
cent, and more between 1900 and 19 10. 

When J. C. Cooper wrote in The Country Gentleman for May 
1, 1915, that "The demand for walnuts is growing much faster than 
the supply. We do not produce in America more than twenty per 
cent, of what we consume, and it will take fifty t<> a hundred years, 
with all the encouragement of the nut experts, to raise enough 
walnuts to supply the home demand," he states a condition which 
applies with manifold greater force to the consumption of Pecan 
nuts. It is true that the California production of Walnuts doubled 
during ten years, while the importation trebled — yet in spite of this 
five-fold production English Walnuts constantly increased in price. 



England Likes Hess Pecans 

In Gardening, Illustrated, a prominent weekly published in London. England, 
we read: "The shells of She Hess Paper Shell Pecans are thin and easily broken 
and the body of the nut in this variety is larger, fuller and better flavored than 
is usual with pecans. The pecan may rightly be regarded as a food of very 
highest value. It contains 70 per cent, of fat. It- texture is delicate, and it can 
be digested easily. * * * The demand for the paper shell pecan is constantly 
increasing and is well in front of the supply." 



Nut imported 
1917, nearly 
ten times as 
great as in 
1900 



Pecan 

nut-meat 

a year-round 

necessity 



14 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Increased 
demand is for 
finer nuts 



Paper Shell 
Pecans 
meet every 
need 



The Finer the Nut — The Greater the Demand 

It is true that in Walnuts a condition has come about as in 
other nuts — that the increasing demand is for the finer, higher 
priced grades. What are the points of superiority that have led to 
this great increase in public demand? Why are old established 
black walnut trees less valuable as profit producers than English 
Walnut trees only a quarter as old and producing only a fraction 
of the quantity of nuts ? 

First — Thinness of shell and ability to get out the kernels 
whole. 

Second — Superior flavor and food value. 

Third — Attractiveness in appearance of the nut and of the nut- 
meat when removed. 

Fourth — Ease of keeping nuts for lunger periods and using 
them readily. 

Now compare the Hess Paper Shell Pecans with the English 
Walnut on every one of these four points of public demand. 

It is contained in a shell so thin that it is easily broken in the 
hands without the use of nut crackers. The partitions between the 
kernels average as thin as in the English Walnut, and the average 
person will, in less time, remove more whole kernels of the Paper 
Shell Pecan than of any other nut. 

As to flavor and food value, let such experts as Luther Bur- 
bank answer. (See Foreword, page 4.) Remember that his an- 
swer is certainly unbiased, for he is a patriotic native of California 
where America's largest crop of Walnuts is produced — and that 
State produces no quantity of paper shell pecans. 

As to attractiveness in appearance, of both the nut and the nut 
meat, you and your friends are the best judges. People who know 
both nuts have already handed in their verdict favorable to the 
paper shell pecan. In addition, the pecan has been endowed by 
nature with a shell which is air-tight — and therefore keeps many 
times as long without losing its fine flavor or becoming dry and 
tough. 



" The Most Prized of all Nuts for Domestic Uses " 

In Bulletin, No. 30, of the Department of Agriculture. Washington, D. C, 
we read regarding Pecans: "In the course of time, however, a? they are more 
widely grown, they will become the most prized of all the nuts for domestic use, 
and it i*. probable that when the supply is large they will be preferred abroad to 
the best Persian nuts." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



15 




In the Company's Packing Room 

One shipment of Pecans, boxed, ready to send out 



The Pecan The Year-round Nut 

The pecan is the one nut suitable for eating the year round. 

And the present tendency is toward the year-round use of nuts. 

Another reason why the finer pecans are surer to maintain their 
high prices than any other nuts is found in the fact that Walnuts of 
the finest grades are being raised in quantities in California, Oregon, 
Washington and other States, and in England, France, Italy and 
South American countries — while the territory in which the paper 
shell pecan attains its highest state of perfection is confined to a 
40-mile radius in southwestern Georgia, embracing Calhoun and 
Dougherty Counties. 

Is it any wonder that the State Entomologist of Georgia, Mr. 
E. Lee Worsham, whose name is virtually always included as one 
of "the three big men in his line of endeavor," wrote : "In my 
opinion the pecan growers of South Georgia have the finest 
horticultural proposition in the United States." 



Can be 
raised at best 
in a 40-mile 
radius 



From the /'resident of the Albany, Ga., Chamber of Commerce. J. A, Davis, 
we hear : "The strongest evidence of my belief in the future of this wonderful 
development is that I have ju-t planted a grove of one hundred acres. I know 
of no agricultural or horticultural industry which, with proper attention, holds 
promise of returns half so large as the pecan in Southwest Georgia Both our 
soil and our climate are peculiarly adapted for the production of the finest nuts 
in most abundant yield. These nuts are the size and quality which make them 
absolutely the finest nut on the market. They will always command a fancy price 
because the supply will never equal the demand." 



16 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Wild Pecan— 
a staple food 
among 
Indians 



" What is the Paper Shell Pecan ? " 

Mention Pecan to any one who has tasted the improved paper 
shell variety and they will assume that you are talking of paper shell 
pecans. For the person who cracks and eats paper shell pecans 
feels it almost a sacrilege to call the common wild pecan a pecan. 
Yet there are thousands of Americans who have never tasted paper 
shell pecans, and who think of pecans only as wild pecans, grown 
largely in Texas. 

Pecans are divided in three general but radically different 
classes, as the descriptions and cuts below indicate. 

The ordinary wild pecan is native to America. The earliest 
French explorers found that one of the staple foods of the Indians 
was this palatable nut which grew in the forests 
of the south, and in that portion of Mexico ad- 
joining the Gulf States. Pecan trees in Texas 
and Louisiana have been found which were 
over five hundred and seven hundred vears old 
— which were still yielding large crops of nuts. 

Like the oak, no one ever knew a Pecan tree to die of old age. 

There are in the Southern States wild pecan trees of which the 
records go back to the first civilization on this continent. 

The pecan tree is so symmetrical and beautiful that it is called 
"The Queen Shade Tree of Many a Southern Home." Its fruitage 
is so prolific that it is said to be "one of the most astonishing food 
engines in all nature, yielding literally barrels of nuts."' 




"Your Pecan is Superior to Our Walnut," says Burbank Display. 

In the American Nut Journal. May, 1915, we read: "Luther Burbank is 
credited with the following statement regarding" the pecan tree: If I were 
young again I would go South and devote my life to propagating new species of 
the pecan. Walnut culture is the leading horticultural product in California, 
makes more money for us and makes it easier than anything else, and your 
pecan is superior to our walnut. The longevity of the pecan orchard and its im- 
mense earning power make it one of the most profitable and permanent of 
agricultural investments." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheinl, Pa. 



17 



The Hardiest of all Nut Trees 

The reason for this long life is that the pecan is the hardiest of 
all nut trees — free from all ordinary tree pests and diseases because 
it is of the hickory group, and the longest lived member of that 
group. The lack of surface moisture — the great enemy of most 
trees — is not a disadvantage to the pecan, for it has a remarkabb 
long tap root which goes down so deeply into the ground that it 
draws moisture from the sub-soil. Since the blooming period is late 
in Spring, the buds are not injured by frost. 

The wild pecan has been a popular nut. rivaling, because of its 
superior flavor, such other nuts as the walnut, chestnut, shell-bark, 
hickory-nut, etc. This popularity was secured despite its many 
drawbacks — for the shell of the wild pecan is hard and the partition 
walls between the kernels thick and bitter. There was too little 
meat and too much difficulty getting it — but the experts saw in the 
great demand for pecans, despite these disadvantages, the promise 
of rich reward for improving the pecan. 

The seedling pecan is the next step toward pecan perfection. 
Larger than the wild pecan, and thinner shelled, it equals or sur- 
passes it in flavor, depending upon the variety of seedling under 
consideration. Selling at an average price of 35 to 45 cents 
per pound, which is double the cost of the wild 
pecan, it has so much more meat and it is much 
mure accessible, that it is always a better pay- 
ing purchase for the housewife. So justly 
popular has the seedling pecan become that the 
discriminating dealer and the distriminating 
housewife will have nothing to do with the 
inferior, thick-shelled pecan, which is brightly 
tinted and polished to disguise the inferiority. 




Pecan trees 
fear no 
drought 



Seedling 
superior to 
wild grown 
Pecan 



Surprised at the Size of Kernel — and Flavor 

"I have received the 22-ounce l>"\ of I less Pecans which I ordered from 
you a few days ago. 

"I am well pleased with the nuts. They are certainly worth the price, and 
then some. On opening the nuts, 1 was surprised at the remarkable size of the 
kernels within, and of their delicious, sweet, nutty flavor. Your Pecans are par 
excellent. They have, no doubt, a very high food value, and I intend in the 
future to omit meats from my diet and substitute your Pecan instead. // is 
remarked by eminent physicians that much of the cancer that is prevalent nowa- 
days is due to the excessive consumption of meats, and that the only remedy is 
for people to give up the eating of meals and use nuts instead. 

"I expect to favor you with additional orders in the future." 

J. P. F., Roanoke. Va. 



18 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



The Paper Shell Pecan 



The 

paper-shell 
Pecan — the 
Queen of all 
nuts 



Quality 
unequalled 
but supply 
is limited 



Had the work of the experts not gone any further than estab- 
lishing the improved Pecan Seedlings, it would have justified all their 
efforts — for the pecan seedling bore justifiable comparison with any 
other nut on the market in food value and accessibility: until the 
Paper Shell Pecan was developed from budded trees. 

The Paper Shell Pecan has an air-tight shell so thin that it is 
easily broken in one hand by a gentle pressure. The kernel is large, 
easily removed and of flavor so much finer that any observing person 
can distinguish it from any other pecan by taste alone. 

Instead of a bitter partition wall which imbeds itself in the 
nut when it is cracked, as in the wild pecan, the paper shell pecan 
has a thin, tissue-like membrane winch is easily removed. 

With the paper shell pecan a larger portion of the total weight 
of the nut is meat than with any other nut, with the possible ex- 
ception of the finest almond. And this meat of the paper shell pecan 
contains seventv per cent, fat, while that of the almond contains but 
fifty-four per cent. 

The paper shell pecan is the Queen of all nuts. 

It has no equal from the standpoint of size, appearance, acces- 
sibility of meat, size of kernel, and fine flavor. The only disadvant- 
age is the limited supply — for there is but a small territory in which 
soil conditions and climate are right. The walnut is raised in 
England, France, Italy and in large quantities in the three Pacific 
coast states, and in smaller quantities elsewhere. The paper shell 
pecan seems to flourish best within a forty-mile radius in Georgia, 
embracing Calhoun and Dougherty Counties. Of the half million 
budded pecan trees in the world, two hundred and forty thousand, 
or practically half, are in this 
forty-mile radius. Were complete 
records of yield accessible, it 
would be seen that this half of the 
budded trees has produced far 
more than their portion of the 
crop. 




The State Entomologist of Georgia, Mr. E. L. Worsham, writes : "The 
Pecan Industry has developed beyond the point where it matters not what you 
or I believe. It is a success. Results are being produced of wide interest and of 
permanent character, and the industry in the Albany district in the hands of 
competent men has wonderful potentialities. The hundreds of thousands of 
dollars invested by shrewd business men in Commercial Pecan properties, after 
personal investigation, argues that the development being recorded in the Albany 
district is meritorious." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manlieim, Pa. 



19 



Hess Paper Shell Pecans 

It is never difficult to convince any one who has tasted the Hess 
Paper Shell Pecan, and compared it with the other pecans, why 
these pecans should be selling for eighty cents to $1.25 per pound 
and up when the wild pecans are selling at twenty to thirty-five 
cents per pound. The only difficulty is that not one person in a 
thousand has ever tasted the improved Paper Shell Pecan, because 
the supply is so small compared to the demand. 

As Luther Burbank, admittedly the foremost horticulturist in 
America, has well expressed it, "We have now one Pecan where 
we ought to have a million to create a market. The demand for 
them is constantly increasing, and the price is advancing each 
year, for the demand is many times greater than the supply." 

The Hess Paper Shell Pecans are selected varieties of the Thefinest 
Paper Shell Pecan, grown and developed in the Pecan Belt of varieties of 
Georgia by expert horticulturists. These experts, who have made paper shell 
Pecan Culture their life work, succeeded after expensive expe'rimen- peLans 
tation in developing the Hess Selected Varieties from the finest 
varieties which were accepted as standards of high quality by the 
National Nut Growers' Association, such as the Schley, Stuart. 

These varieties are naturally hard}-, rapid growers, which will 
live for centuries because of their resistance to fungi, destructive 
insects, cold and drought. The Hess Selected Varieties combine 
with these advantages a purity of strain which assures uniformly 
superior pecans. 

Note the color plate on cover, photographed from average nuts 
of the improved Hess Selected Varieties of Paper Shell Pecans. 
The large size of the nuts, the thinness of the shell, the almost entire 
elimination of the center partition, the finer flavor and the greater 
food value put these nuts in a class by themselves for quality. Do 
not take our word for their superior quality. Note what others say 
about Hess Paper Shell Pecans mi the pages following: 



"Cover a County with Trees," to Supply Demand 

"Your shipment of Hess Pecan- reached my house yesterday, so we had some 
of them with our coffee at dinner, and I take pleasure in confirming all you claim 
regarding the size and quality of these nuts. They are certainly superb, and a 
revelation of what specializing may accomplish in that line. 

Now what you want to do is to cover with such nut trees a whole county 
in the most favorable part of the South for the purpose, so as to give the people 
an ample supply and I will guarantee they won't go far for any other nuts." 

!.. 1". S, Ridgewood, X. J. 



20 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan _ 



Hess Pecans Always Please Those Who Test Them 



From 
a world- 
famous food 
expert 



Tested many 
varieties — 
Hess best 



Fill the 
shell better — 
firmer flavor 



Their beauty 
makes one 
enjoy them 



From the 
editor of a 
famous 
health 
publication 



Mr. Elam G. Hess, Pres., 
Keystone Pecan Co., 

Manheim, Pa. 
Hess Pecans are the finest nnts 



The Battle Creek Sanitarium. 

Battle Creek, Michigan. 
January 18, 1918. 
I ever saw. What a blessing to the world it 



will be when these fine products of the 
appreciated by the public. 



vegetable kingdom come to be better 
J. H. Kellogg. 



Toledo, Ohio, March 5, 191 7. 
I never ate such lovely and nutritious nuts in all my life, and want them for 
my own special use. Enter my order for $10 worth of the finest grade from the 
1917 crop. Dr. H. W. 

Winnetaka, 111., Dec. 9, 1916. 
The ten pound package of pecans arrived promptly and in perfect condition. 
1 take pleasure in stating that I have eaten many of the best varieties of paper 
shell pecans, but Hess Pecans are superior in quality and flavor to any I have 
ever before tasted. M. S. 

Ottawa, Canada, Jan. 2, 191 7. 
I have always been fond of nuts, and taken great interest in them, but never 
before have I seen nuts that approached the Hess Pecans for completely filling 
the shell. I have given samples to 20 or so of my friends and they describe the 
difference in flavor between the wild hard shell variety and these is like the 
difference between chalk and dheese. I can only describe them as beyond all 
comparison with any other nut on the market in digestibility, flavor and ease 
of opening. 

St. Louis, Missouri, Feb. 8, 1917. 
I have never seen any nuts half so fine nor tasted any so delicious. A person 
could readily subsist on nuts of this quality without any flesh food. I am glad 
of the opportunity to know this wonder nut. and am sorry you have no more 
for sale. Mrs. M. W. 



Frankford, Phila., Pa., Jan. 7, 1917. 
We sampled the Hess Pecans on New Year's Day. Friends visiting us 
were surprised that they could be opened by hand pressure. They praised these 
paper shells without stint; they are rich in flavor and their sweetness cannot be 
duplicated. Their beauty is enough to make you enjoy them. There was not 
a faulty meat in any of these paper shell pecans. C. L. 



Washington, D. C, Mar. 7. 1917. 
Before your Hess Paper Shell Pecans came I had bought pecans at sixty 
cents a pound from one of our leading grocers and thought them fine till yours 
came. In size, flavor and thin shell Hess Pecans were far superior and here- 
after I shall know where to get my supply. I let nuts take the place of meat in 
my menu and feel greatly benefited by the change. Miss A. A. 

New York City, Dec. 27, 1916. 
It is not strange that Hess Pecans are so much appreciated; they are so good 
to eat. I ate a dozen at my supper and feel that could everyone eat them every 
■ me would be benefited. Dr. Elmer Lee (Editor Health Culture). 

Battle Creek, Mich. 
In my opinion these Hess Paper Shell Pecans are the finest I have ever 
seen or eaten. G. S. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Maiiltcim,. Pa. 



21 



Montreal, Dec. 31, 1916. 
Received your check and letter. 1 am not surprised your supply of Hess 
Pecans ran so far short of demand that you had to return my money, for they 
are so much appreciated here that I could send you many orders from neighbors 
it you could fill them, shall hope I" get some of next season's supply. A. L. 

Orlando, Fla., Jan. 17, 1918. 

Please send me a 12 oz. box of your Paper Shell Pecans. Enclosed is $1 

money order. I feel skeptical about them, as I have yet to see a large nut well 

filled out and also not woody. Dr. J- M. 

Jan. 26, 1918. 

The box of Hess Pecans just arrived and they are certainly the best ever. 

They are A-l in every respect. I enclose my check for first payment on 

units, each to have 20 trees— budded or grafted pecans that bear nuts like 

sample sent me. Dr. J- M. 

A Few Typical, Recent Cases of Re-orders 

F. B., Los Angeles, California (in the heart of the finest walnut district), 
ordered 22 oz. box for $2, Feb. 13th, 1917. March nth, 1917, wrote: "They are 
unquestionably the very best I ever ate, and I am wondering if you have more 
to offer, and, if so. the price in bulk." Aug. 2, 1917, order booked for Fall, 1917. 
delivery, 50 pounds Hess Paper Shell Pecans. 

Nov. 27, 191 7, sent check for $50 in payment of 50 pounds. 

February 26th, 1918, sent his third re-order for 50 lbs. of Hess Paper Shell 
Pecans for delivery. Fall, 1918, for $50. 

Order received, Dec. II, 1917, from Dr. M. B., Wabash, Ind., for $1 box of 
Hess Paper Shell Pecans. 

Jan. 8, 1918, "Enclosed find check for $5 for which ship pecans like the 12 
oz. box recently sent me. They are the finest I ever ate." 

Jan. 24, 1918, sent check for $10 for more nuts. 

Feb. 9, 1918, bought orchard units to assure supply and to have a home in 
the South. 



Sorry 
supply is 
exhausted 



Skeptical 
but they 
convinced 
him 



Nov. 23rd, 1917, Mrs. K. B.. Monrovia, California, purchased $1 sample box 
of Hess Pecans. 

Jan. 9, 1917, sent $2 for more and asked price on 5 pounds. "They were very 
fine. Are quite a treat." 

Dec. 3, 1917. E. B., Reading, Pa., ordered 12 oz. sample Hess Pecans, $t. 
Dec. 7, 1917. he wrote. "Enclosed find check for $10 for which send 10 lbs. 
I less Paper Shell Pecans." 

Mrs. M. B., Elmira, New York, after comparing various grades of Pecans, 
wrote: "Put me down for 10 lbs. of Hess Paper Shell Pecans, to be delivered 
in the Autumn of 1916. There is a very great difference between these and 
seedling. Check for $10. Nov. 17, 1916, for the ten pound carton was followed 
with urgent request for five pounds more February 10, 1917, as "they are a 
necessity in my household." Mrs. B. has bought Hess Pecans through three 
successive seasons: an endorsement in itself from one who knows pecans. 

J. C, Seattle, Washington, wrote Jan. 29, 1917: "The size, quality, and 
flavor are all of the very highest. They are richness itself. Regarding food 
value, I question if there is any nut on earth equal to it. I wish I had a barrel 
of them. You ought to plant at least 10,000 acres. Will you notify me when 
you harvest your next crop." April 10th, 1917, ordered 10 lbs. more for Fall, 
1017, delivery, saying, "They are the very best on earth." 



Buying in 
50 pound 
lots 



1 6 pounds 
in less than 
3 months 



" Wish 
I had a 
barrel ' 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



A few more 
commenda- 
tions from 
many 
received 



Re-orders 
and the 
cash — prove 
superiority 



The Highest Priced Pecans Yet Demand 
Exceeds Supply 

A high official of the city of New York wrote: "Such pecans never were 
seen before in our neighborhood. They are all you advertised them to be. I sent 
a box on to my daughter in Boston." 

From a Philadelphian who "'knows nuts," we heard: "The Hess Pecans, 
which terminated our Xmas Dinner, were highly appreciated. Being a lover of 
Pecans, I must say that Hess Pecans are far superior to any other Pecan I ever 
tasted; especially the Paper Shell kind found great favor among my guests." 

From another, whose husband is at the head of a publication which enjoys 
national prestige as an exponent of the finest nuts and other foods by mail order, 
we received the following letter, along with the second order: "Enclosed find 
check for $2.00 for which send me a 22 oz. package of your Hess Pecan-. 
Kindly ship these at once as we wish them for Thanksgiving." 

Why take more time with detailed copies of letters from 
customers ordering and re-ordering Hess Paper Shell Pecans. Is 
nut the fact that re-orders were received in itself the best evidence .if 
superior quality when it is considered that the selling price of most 
<>f these shipments was $2.00 for 22 ounces, or about the rate of 
$1.50 per pound? 

The man whose wife 
wrote the last letter ques- 
tioned whether any one 
would pay this price — for 
an addition of fifty per 
cent, of the price of the 
average paper shell pecan 
was too much, in his opin- 
ion. He questioned the 
price before he sampled 
the nuts and noticed how 
much they were preferred 
in his own home and 
among his friends. After 
that the price was forgot- 
ten and the recollection of 
superior quality led him 
to re-order, just as it did 
many others. 




L. B. Coddington, a unit holder 
and director in the company, stand- 
ing by a pecan tree of 1915 planting. 
Photo taken October, 1917. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim,'Pa. 



23 



Tons of Hess Pecans Have Been Sold by Us 



Shipments have been 



made 



to every State 



the Union, 



throughout Canada, to various countries of South America, the 
Bermudas and Porto Rico, to England. South Africa and India, to 
Australia, New Zealand, etc. 

Though our fine Gift Boxes have enjoyed a remarkable sale 
during the Holiday Season, our business is by no means limited to 
that period. Orders for large quantities are received throughout 
the year from individuals for use in their homes — and in many 
cases we have been compelled to refund money because our increas- 
ing supply was exhausted earlier each year. 

Some purchasers of Hess Pecans have re-ordered twelve times 
in a single winter — while many others who first bought the dollar 
box have ordered in large quantities up to 50 pounds rather than be 
compelled to re-order so frequently. 

For the past couple years we have had to confine our sales 
almost entirely to mail orders, because the supply has failed to in- 
crease quickly enough to meet the demand. But in 1914 we made 
a test in one American city of only 51,000 population (based on 
the 1910 census) through one wholesale grocery firm. Paper shell 
pecans had not been previously km wn in this section, their sales- 
men said that it was absurd to attempt to market a 12 oz. box of 
Hess Pecans at the retail price of $1.00. Aet even in the poorer 
sections grocers re-ordered and re-ordered till our available supply 
was exhausted — the demand created by the nuts themselves 
astonished all concerned. 

The city in which this test was made was not our honk' town. 
It does not stand above the average in per capita wealth — nor is 
there any evidence to show that the people of this city are more 
likely to be interested in pecans than any average American. To 
make such a test in a large city like Xew York was impossible— 
for the entire yield of our entire plantation, planted twenty trees 
to the acre, could n< >t supply a week's demand there, if Xew York 
bought pecans in the same proportion as the city cited above. (See 
note below. 1 

We must take immediate action to increase the quantity 
of pecans offered for sale. Even with the wonderful increase in 
vield each year from established orchards, we cannot fill half as 
large a percentage of the demand as we did two years ago. 



Sold all 
over the 
zvorld 



The Country Gentleman, of September 19, 1914, says. "Tyler is a Texas 
town with about 12.000 people who eat a carload of pecans every year. If Xew 
York ate Pecans at the same rate, it would consume our whole crop. 1 ' ( I In- 
refers to all the world's crops combined.) 



New York 
City can 
consume 
the World's 
supply 



24 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



A. country- 
wide 

movement 
toward nut- 
meat as the 
" true meat, ' 



By religious, 
ethical and 
hygienic 
organizations 



Why This Phenomenal Demand for Finer Pecans? 

How can this remarkable demand for the finest grade pecans 
— despite the higher price — be accounted for.'' 

There are many reasons. 

This demand for perfect pecans parallels an increased demand 

for nuts of all sorts — pecans in particular. 

As any well informed person knows, there is strongly in evi- 
dence all over the world a movement toward nut meat as the true 
meat. 

Some have joined in this for religious reasons, some for ethical 
reasons, others purely from dietetic or hygienic considerations — 
and many others because of increasing knowledge of food values. 

The Seventh Day Adventists will refer you to the twenty- 
ninth verse of the first chapter of Genesis, which reads, "And God 
said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is 
upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the 
fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." They 
reason that according to this passage "true meat" grows on trees, 
and in this belief the)' are joined by many others fur ethical, dietetic 
and hygienic reasons. 

The Millennium Guild, which has a small but active membership 
of thinking people in Boston, is typical of these ethical movements 
which have assumed great importance in parts of Europe. While 
they base their preference for nut meat on ethical rather than relig- 
ious grounds, the members of these organizations simply abhor the 
idea of eating the carcass of any animal. 

Everywhere in America there are large numbers of people 
organized and unorganized, who will not eat the flesh of any animal 
for dietetic or hygienic reasons. 

Physical Culture restaurants, where nut meats arc substituted 
for animal flesh, are increasing in number in every large city. 

In sanitaria of all sorts there is a tendency to minimize the 
use of animal meat or do away with it entirely. In one system of 
forty sanitaria, there are practically no drugs used because the pa- 
tients are put on a perfected diet system in which nuts are sub- 
stituted for animal flesh. 



Hess Pecans are Rich in Nutriment 

"They are certainly very fine nuts, and I am very glad to know about them. 
As to their food value, t have no doubt they are rich in nutriment. 

A. G. D., Brookline, Mass. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



25 



perfect 

uncooked 

food 



Nuts Meet the Demand for Uncooked Foods 

Man}- physicians who specialize in diseases of the intestinal 
tract are advising the use of uncooked foods. Dr. Kellogg, in his 
hook. Colon Hygiene, sums up one strong argument in simple, non- 
technical language when he says on page 223: "Raw food resists 
the destructive changes which are produced by bacteria, while 
cooked food makes no such resistance." 

Nut meat is practically the only source of both protein and fat, The most 
in large proportions, which it is safe to eat uncooked. This state- 
ment is readilv proved on high authority. In the Congressional 
Record for January 6, 1917, we read : "Nuts occupy a unique posi- 
tion in the list of important food products, in that, with the possi- 
ble exception of a few other fruits, in the raw condition they 
alone afford a fairly complete and balanced food for human 
beings." 

It is because of such increasing public recognition of the great 
and varied advantages of nut meat over animal flesh that you find 
nut importations in 1917 nearly ten times as great in value as those 
in [900; while the consumption of animal flesh has failed to keep 
pace with the increase in population. 

Possibly you will find this increase in the consumption of nut 
meats even more surprising when you consider that there was prac- 
tically twenty per cent, less butter sold from America's farms in 
[909 than in 1899, according to U. S. Census figures. In other 
words, the consumption of butter, which is the principal table article 
competing with nuts in fatty content, was falling off to four-fifths 
during practically the same period while the consumption of nut 
meat was increasing so rapidly. 

Perfected pecan nuts contain more protein than beefsteak, and 
almost as much fat as butter. Isn't it only natural that people 
should want their nourishment and fat in this concentrated form- 
hermetically sealed and kept pure by nature? Is there any such 
assurance of purity and cleanliness on butter — or on beefsteak? 

Place a Hess Pecan on a hat-pin, light the nut-meat and 
notice that it burns like a candle because it is seventy per 
cent. fat. 



Less 

butter-fat 
demanded— 
more nut-fat 



"At this ;\ge (eight to ten year--) the best parts of the orchards under the 
most favorable conditions and in favorable years will not infrequently produce 
from twelve to fifteen pounds per tree. The average number of trees per acre of 
the orchards already planted is twenty. Twenty trees per acre, each averaging 
twelve pounds, yield two hundred and forty pounds per acre." Speech of Con- 
gressman Frank Park. Jan. 6, 101;. as reported in the Congressional Record. 



2o 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



The Pecan 
is the 

concentrated 
form of 
nourishment 



Pecans for Sundaes and Candies, Etc. 

The young women of America, who have changed so largely 
from soda water and ice cream to nut sundaes, may not realize that 
they are getting increased nourishment — but that is the case. That 
tins is no small element in the consumption of pecans is evidenced 
by the fact that one druggist alone uses 1.500 pounds of crushed 
pecan meat per year for nut sundaes — while hundreds might pn >b- 
ably use as many if the true figures were known. 

Nut candies are in such great demand that the best confection- 
ers are astonished. Unfortunately fur them, certain nuts become 
unfit for use in summer and the confectioner must fall back on the 

homely peanut, which falls short in f 1 value, or use the pecan — 

the finest of nuts, which nature has furnished in an air-tight shell, 
which assures satisfaction the year round. The confectioners of 
New Orleans — a hot weather city — long since learned their lesson 
and that city is almost as much noted for its pralines — a pecan nut 
confection — as 
for its wonderful 
fete, the Mardi 
Gras. 

Pralines were 
too good to be 
confined to New 
Orleans alone. 
Along the board- 
walk in Atlantic- 
City and other 
watering places ; 
and at the finer 
con feet ionary 
shops of t h e 
larger cities, they 
are in good de- 
mand. There is no other way to make acceptable pralines except 
by using pecan nuts — the finest pralines require that the nuts be 
whole, which, in turn, indicates another need for paper shell pecans. 




Enos. H. Hess, Second Vice-President ; Jos. A. Philips, Director, 
and some stockholders of the Keystone Pecan Plantation 



" A Greater Future Than Any Nut Raised in this Country " 

"It is not many years since these delicious nuts, the Paper Shell Pecans. 
were first introduced to the people of the North, and wherever they have gone 
thej have met with instant and cordial favor. The Paper Shell Pecan has a 
greater future than any other nut raised in this country. It is a most delicious 
nut." Geo. K. Holmes. United States Bureau of Statistics, Washington, D. C. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



Maximum Food Values — in Condensed Form 

One remarkable fact about the improved paper shell pecan is 
that it is at the same time richer in protein and fat than other nuts; 
yet is more digestible. People who say, "I cannot eat nuts because 
I suffer from indigestion," are surprised to hear of Pecans being 
prescribed by physicians — until they try the paper shell pecan them- 
selves and find that it agrees even with the invalid. Unlike other 
nuts which contain less fat — it can be eaten in quantity without salt, 
without any ill effect. This is probably due to the fact that the 
improved pecan contains an oil which seems to possess many of the 
lubricating and healing qualities which are found in olive oil. 

The digestibility of Pecan fat is an established fact — pecans 
are used largely at such scientifically conducted sanitaria as those at 
Battle Creek as a substitute for meat and corrective diet in trouble- 
some cases of intestinal derangement. 

Consider the many fortunes made in olive oil — then remember 
that even if scientific research should show that pecan oil is not 
so beneficial as olive oil, the pecan has many manifest advantages 
in its more appetizing form, assurance of cleanliness and purity, etc.. 
which make its future promising. 

No authority has ever questioned the nutritive value of the 
pecan. Even the wild pecan, which is far inferior in nutritive quali- 
ties to the paper shell pecan, has met with the highest recommenda- 
tions from eminent authorities. But the fact that this nutriment 
was locked up within a hard shell, separated by a partition so strong 
and bitter that it was seldom possible to get out a satisfactory kernel, 
kept the wild pecan from enjoying the wide popularity it desired. 
The introduction of the improved '-celling and paper shell varieties 
not only led to an interest in these improved varieties, but caused 
such an increased demand for all pecans that prices rose on even the 
poorest wild pecans. But the public found that the cheapest 
pecans are the dearest in the end — and the demand for pecans 
has increased most rapidly on those grades from which the 
largest kernels, containing the utmost in nutritive value, could 
be removed whole. 



From one of the largest nut-tree nurserymen in the world : "The demand 
for Pecans of all descriptions is increasing faster than the supply. * * The 

large Pecans that we raise bring from 50 rent- per pound up to $1.25. We do not 
think that the price will ever drop a great deal, though a great income can be 
had even at 25 cents per pound or even lower if trees are ten or more years of 
age. If one had $1,000 to invest the) would be satisfied with 7%. which is $70, 
yel five or -ix trees will bring in this income. There are no diseases or insects 
that are bad on the Pecan, nothing like as bad as with the Apple, Peach, etc., 
nothing that is anywhere near ruinous. Pecan trees an- naturally a wild tree 
and therefore verv hardy." 



Greater 
digestibility 



Convenient, 

condensed 

nutriment 



28 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



More value 
for every 
dollar spent 



A Test 
which shows 
why 



A Test Which Proves the Best Pecans 
Cheapest in the End 

The willingness of the general public to pay the maximum price 
for Hess Paper Shell Pecans can be attributed only to the fact that 
this improved variety of Paper Shell Pecans gives more in return for 
every dollar invested. You can prove this to your own satisfaction 
by comparison with any other pecans at any price. 

There are rive representative classes of pecans which should be 
considered in any test; below is a report on a test made of equal 
weights of all five grades. We have stated opposite each the retail 
average selling price generally secured for that grade pecan, although 
on Hess varieties we have secured higher prices by our improved 
merchandising. 

First. Common wild pecans sell at about 25c. per pound. 

Second. Common seedlings sell at about 30c. per pound. 

Third. Hess Selected Seedlings, at an average price 40c. 

Fourth. Common Paper Shell Pecans retail at an average of 
about 75c. per pound. 

Fifth. Hess Paper Shell selling at $1.00 per pound and up. 

The results of a careful comparison of these five grades, using 
an equal weight of each, disclosed the following facts : 

A — Before Cracking. — Though size of the nut whole counts 
for but little in judging pecans, as compared to the quantity and 
quality of the meat within the shell ; those making the test were in- 
terested to note that average Hess Paper Shell Pecans were ex- 
ceeded in size only by a few of the largest pecans in class four — 
other varieties of paper shell pecans later found to have large shells 
1 mly partially filled with meat, or with many kernels shrivelled. 

It was noted that the brightest looking nuts proved in the end 
to be the poorest quality — for the cheapest wild pecans are dipped in 
varnish to make them look attractive. 

B — Opening Process. — The Hess Paper Shell was found to 
open more readily in the hand without nut crackers, than did the 
other classes of nuts when nut crackers were used. When the frag- 
ments of shell were compared it was easy to see why — superior thin- 
ness of shell distinguishes Hess Paper Shell Pecans. 

The meat in the Hess Paper Shell Pecans filled the shells com- 
pletely, while large air spaces were noted in many other varities. 



" Why are They So Different ?" Sun Ripened 

"You cannot say ton much for the Hess Pecans. I am delighted with them. 
They are by far the most delicious nuts I have ever eaten. 1 am quite interested 
to know how you grow them and why they are so different from other Pecans. 
I have eaten Pecans from near Evansville and Mount Vernon, but the ones 
you sent are far superior in flavor and thinness of shell." 

G. H. 11., Ravenna, Ohio. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



29 



C — Separating Meat From Shell. — When the various lots of 
nuts were carefully opened, in separate piles, a careful comparison 
was made of the meat and shells in each pile. 

The number of whole kernels was counted — no other pecan 
had four-fifths as many whole kernels as were found among the 
Hess Paper Shell Pecans. The common wild pecan and the common 
seedling had such hard shells that the meat was practically all broken 
to small fragments in opening the shells. Xo detailed comparison 
was necessary between these crumbs of nut meat, mixed with shell 
and pith, and the whole kernels or half kernels of the Hess Paper 
Shell Pecans. 

D — The Pith Test. — In the Hess Paper Shell and the fourth 
variety — which costs nearly as much per pound — there was prac- 
tically no pith — the partition taking the form of a thin membrane 
which was easily removed instead of the thick, bitter wall of 
the two cheaper pecans. 

E — The Final Test. — When the nut meat, which was in ap- 
petizing or edible form, was separated from the shells and partitions 
in each case, it was found that for table use the Hess Paper Shell 
gave the greatest weight of nutmeat for every dollar invested 
in the nuts, carriage and opening costs included. The common 
paper shell variety which cost nearly as much as the Hess Paper 
Shell was a poor second, followed closely by the Hess Improved 
Seedlings, while the two cheap grades w^ere in the end the most 
costlv investment — because they yielded so small a quantity of satis- 
factory nut meat for each dollar invested. 

This is also confirmed by many other tc^ts. which show that 
even including small particles of nut meat, which are far from 
appetizing in form, the wild pecan and the common seedling yield 
less than four pounds to each ten pounds of nuts ; the Hess Seedling 
Pecan and the common paper shell about five pounds to each ten 
pounds, and the Hess Paper Shell Pecan about six and three-quarters 
pounds of meat to each ten pounds of nuts. 

With such superiority proven for Hess Paper Shell Pecans, it is 
no longer a question whether the public will pay the higher price. 
The question becomes rather. "'Can the public afford to pay less for 
any other nut, and get less value for every cent paid?" 



The most 
meat per 
dollar from 
the highest 
priced nuts 



"The Finest Flavored Pecans Ever Tasted" 

"The box of Hess Pecans came all right and we find them all that your 
advertisement represents them to be. They are good size and nearly meat — 
almost no shell. Very nutritious and of a flavor far exceeding the ordinary 
Pecan. Our friends, without exception, pronounce them the finest flavored Pecans 
they ever tasted." E. B. P., Melrose, Mass. 



30 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



The best 
investment 
for the 
housewife — 
and for you 



That the public measures Pecan values rightly is proven by the 
remarkable success of our sales on Hess Paper Shell Pecans in the 
past. Our only problem in >w is to meet the demand for the highest 
grade paper shell pecans which is by far the best investment for the 
purchaser. 

It is simply marvelous how hungry the world is for these fine 
tasting Pecans, and it will be hungry for man}' years to come be- 
cause the increase in supply does not keep pace with the rapidly in- 
creasing demands for high quality Pecans. The present problem, 
therefore, is to produce more fine Pecans by planting more Pecan 
trees. 



The center circular cut shows ten pecan nuts in one cluster, of which seven can be seen in 
cut. Photographed in 1913 by Mr. B. L. Johnson, Allentown. 



At the left, Mr. Geo. 
Holloway, a unit holder, 
standing at a tree on our plan- 
tation which bore pecans the 
fourth year. Photographed 
Aug. 17, 1916. Budded 1912. 



At the right, Mrs. Thos. 
F. Miller and Mr. L. B. Cod- 
dington standing by one of 
the trees in Mrs. Miller's unit 
planted 1914. Photographed 
October 1917. 




Pecan Tree Nature's Most Powerful Food Producer 

The Country Gentleman, in an article <>n Pecans, published the following: 
"The nut is nutritious, very nutritious, and we already hove numerous instances 
of .air good big tree making more human food lhan the best acre of blue grass in. 
all Kentucky. Plainly, the tree-nut method beats the grass-meat method of feed- 
ing man. Tree crops are to be the agriculture of the future." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 31 



The Big Problem— Establishing More Orchard Units 

Like all tree crops of value, pecans do not bear the first couple 
of years after planting. It is during this period before bearing 
begins that care and attention are necessary — once well established, 
the Pecan is hardy as an oak. 

We have in our nurseries many budded trees of the proven 
valuable Hess varieties on two or three years' root, waiting to be 
set out in orchard units — average size being three to five feet high. 

We own 2,873 acres °f fertile land in Calhoun County, Georgia 
— which has been examined by experts of highest standing and ap- 
proved bv such men as the government expert as of the rare char- 
acter of soil necessary to produce finest paper shell pecans. 

Corroborating these opinions is the fact that we have right on 
this property many pecan trees, bearing nuts in large quantities, de- 
spite the fact that they were planted thirty trees to the acre some 
twenty vears ago. Now only twenty Hess Paper Shell Pecan Trees 
are being planted to the acre, because of their vigorous growth. 
These trees will undoubtedly increase in size and in annual yield 
every year till they are forty years old — and bear their maximum 
crop for a century or more. 

The Keystone Pecan Company was organized and incorporated 
for the purpose of planting its property with Paper Shell Pecans on 
a co-operative and profit-sharing basis. That is, of the 2,873 acres, 
1,800 acres will be sold to investors, the investor buying as few or 
as many acres as he desires. The company plants the property to 
Paper Shell Pecans of standard varieties, twenty trees t<< each acre 
unit. It cultivates and cares for the trees and the land for a period 
of five years, and the total charge for land, clearing, furnishing 
trees, planting, cultivating, care, etc., is $300.00 per acre, payable in 
easy payments. After the five year period the company shares with 
the unit holder in the profits from the nuts as explained on page 33. 
Our unit plan is considered l>v conservative investors as the safest, 
most equitable and most profitable plan to plant our large Pecan 
plantation in the shortest possible time. 



More 
orchards 
a vital 
necessity 



Co-operative 
and profit- 
sharing 
system 



"The pecan industry is a husky infant with almost boundless possibilities. 
W 1 .ire building an industry which for generations should yield its bountiful 
crop of delicious food and bring millions of dollars to our citizens." 

Congressional Record of United States, page 1478, Vol. 54. 




A Corner of the Nursery 
which our young trees are grown. In the distance, our seedling 
orchard which is bearing profitable crops. (Above 
photo taken May 1912.) 




Two years later in the same Nursery Corner 
One of our orchard-unit holders, inspecting the nurseries in 1914. 
the size to which the two-year-old trees have grown. 



Note 




Dr. and Mrs. Balliet, of Lehighton, Pa., inspecting some of their 
thirty units on our plantation, May 18, 1916. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim,'Pa. 



33 



We Sell You the Land and Farm it For You 

Under this attractive plan the company agrees to sell to in- 
vestors land np to i ,800 acres out of this plantation. The interest 
of the company and its obligation to the investor does not 
cease with the sale of the land, for the company binds itself to 
plant, and is planting, not less than the full 1,800 acres of land with 
Paper Shell Pecans of the finest standard varieties — the Hess Paper 
Shell Pecans — twenty trees to the acre. 

The company further obligates itself to do all the cultivating 
necessary — caring for the young trees and the land for a period of 
five years, replacing at its own expense all damaged trees, and 
guaranteeing that at the end of the five years all trees will be in 
a healthy, thrifty condition. All this is done without expense to 
the buyer. The profits from any nuts grown during this period 
will be paid to the Unit Orchard owner after deducting 12^2 per 
cent, commission for gathering and marketing. 

After the expiration of the five-year period, the company is 
to continue to operate the property on the most profitable basis, 
fertilizing and farming the land, cultivating and pruning the trees, 
as well as gathering and marketing the pecans, and will receive for 
this service 123/ per cent, of the profits; Xj' _. per cent, being paid 
to the Unit Orchard owners. Under the agreement and plans as 
outlined there should be enormous profits. 

As the expense of developing will be distributed over a period 
of five years, the Company has arranged to sell the Orchard L "nits 
on small monthly payments, thus placing a golden opportunity 
within the reach of the investor of moderate means and giving him 
a chance to make his savings and surplus work tor him as effectively 
as though he had a large amount of capital. 

You become absolute owner of the acre of land in your orchard 
unit. The land is cleared from trees and stumps, the Pecan trees 
are planted, cultivated and cared for as a whole on a large scale. 
This is co-operation under a system that relieves you of every worry 
and which makes for economy and large profits. 



All trees that 
die replaced 
without 
charge 



Crops 
marketed 
for you 



Sold on easy 

monthly 

payments 



YOU Ol I'M 

the land 



One of the Best Possible Investments 
"We also wish to express oui confidence in the Pecan industry. We believe 
it to be one of the best possible investments. This locality 1 The Albany Distrii 1 1 
is especially favorable as to soil and climate conditions necessary to the ho! 
results." S. B. Brown, President Exchange Bank, Albany, Georgia. 



34 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



The Practical Answer — the Unit Plan. 



Expert 
supervision, 
at lower cost 
than hired 
help, by our 
plan 



Co-operative 

marketing 

assures 

higher 

profits 



Live at home, 
raise Pecans 
in Georgia 



There are many people who know of the great successes made 
in Pecan growing in this district, who would be glad to buy five, ten 
or twenty acres of our Pecan Plantation. The land in itself would 
undoubtedly be a good investment, because cases are on record show- 
ing increase of double and treble value on land which did not have 
a bearing orchard. But this would not be of any great advantage 
in solving the problem of supplying more of the finest pecans unless 
the purchaser had the knowledge, skill and time to bring his trees 
to the bearing point. 

Even assuming that he could bring the trees to the bearing 
point, his ability to market his product advantageously could not 
possibly equal that of a co-operative group of orchardists, who have 
the most skilled supervision service and the advantages regarding 
marketing which come from collective effort. 

With several carloads to ship instead of a few barrels, the 
large orchardist is in a position to command the very lowest rate 
and to reach the market in just the right season. 

Ask any member (if the Citrus Fruit Exchange whether he has 
made more money since he joined those organizations than he did 
before, and he will tell you an interesting story which cannot fail 
to convince you of the advantage of collective marketing. Yet 
oranges and grape fruit, the products of the members of those ex- 
changes, are perishable in such a short time that the benefits derived 
are small compared with those gained by co-operative marketing of 
the Hess Paper Shell Pecans. 

There are other advantages of collective effort which exceed 
even the advantages in marketing. Among them is the advantage 
of skilled supervision at minimum cost. The professional or busi- 
ness man can live in the North, enjoying the income which his 
specialized efforts assure, yet be growing his pecan orchard in the 
South under the supervision of expert pecan horticulturists, whom 
he could not possibly afford to retain for a plantation of less than 
a thousand acres and with labor costs minimized as a result of such 
skillful management. 

He need not lose one hour from his regular business to super- 
vise the gathering and marketing of his crop of pecans. While he 
makes money at his own business, his orchard unit also makes 
money for him without sacrificing his time. Yet he is assured 
every advantage of co-operative marketing; he knows that Hess 
Pecans are known from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and that the 
demand constantly exceeds the supply. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim,-Pa. 



35 



Our Plantation is Divided into One-Acre Units 

Each acre is plotted off on the plan of our property and indi- 
cated with an Orchard Unit number. 

In each of these units twenty trees are planted. 

The purchaser of an Orchard Unit secures absolute owner- 
ship of his land, but the entire plantation is operated as a whole. 
This plan enables us to clear the laud, plant, cultivate and care for 
tlie young trees at a fraction of the cosl which would be necessary 
if the units were operated separately. 

Judge the economies effected by our plan of co-operative man- 
agement by the fact that our charge for clearing the acre unit, 
planting the twenty budded pecan trees, replacing any that fail to 
thrive not for one year only, but for five years, and cultivating and 
caring for your trees for five years is only $300, while the aver- 
age selling price of a good acre unit, with pecan trees four or 
five years old, is $600. 



A S60G 
orchard unit 
for $300 



Why can we develop and sell you a unit worth $600 for $300? 

The cost of land, cost of clearing, cost of setting trees and Possible 

only undt 
our plan 



developing a small orchard is of such magnitude as to be almost 



prohibitive to any person witli a small income. Under the Orchard 
Unit Plan this cost is reduced owing to the scope of the undertak- 
ing. Machinery and stock that would cost an average of $300 an 
acre for a ten-acre orchard costs only $20 an acre for a T.000 acre 
tract, the cost of an orchardist and the operating expense being in 
the same proportion. A small orchard managed on a small scale 
cannot produce pecans within fifty per cent, as cheaply as if that 
small orchard is a Unit under large plantation management. 

The company gains also by the natural increase in value of the 
1,073 acres of fertile pecan growing land which it is planting for 
itself — and which it holds as pecan orchards under the same condi- 
tions which apply on any unit in the eighteen hundred being sold. 
All are on an equal basis — co-operative effort in growing and 
marketing is assured by our enormous interest in the investment 
made bv us in our own units. 



"One of the Safest Industries"— "The Profit is O. K." 

"The Pecan industry is in its infancy, but is being developed very rapid!} 
in this immediate section. It is considered one of the safest industries in South 
Georgia, and the profit is O. K. once you get the trees in good bearing condition." 
L. J. Cooper, President First National Bank. Waycross, Georgia. 



36 



The Story of the I 'a per Shell Pecan. 




One of Our Units, Ready 
to be Cleared 

In this picture Mr. Geo. Walker 
is shown at the left ; in the 
center is the Sales Manager of 
the Pecan Company, Thos. F. 
Miller, and to the right, M. G. 
Esbenshade, 1st Vice-President. 




Center left, Dr. M. W. Brunner, Lebanon, Pa., a unit owner, 
looking at a young pecan tree on his own unit of the Keystone Pecan 
Plantation. 



At bottom left, F. H. Miller, a prominent manufacturer of Hagers- 
town, Md., at a tree planted in the 1917 season. This photo taken 
March 8, 1917. To note development see leaf growth on the tree 
on June 21, 1917, as shown at right. The men in these two pic- 
tures are of equal height. 




Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim,-Pa. 



37 



#10 Down Per Unit, #5 Per Month 

Each Orchard Unit will cost $300 under the following condi- 
tions: $10 down when application is made for the Orchard Unit, 
and $5 per month per Unit until it is paid in full. No interest is 
charged on deferred payments. Should one prefer to pay easli for 
one's Orchard Unit, a discount of ten per cent, will he allowed on 
the amount of cash paid, and the deed will be delivered at once. 

Upon receipt of an application, together with the first payment, 
an Orchard contract will be prepared and executed and forwarded. 
Upon the completion of the payments, the deed will lie delivered. 

\s the selling price to-day of a perfect four- or five-year-old 
orchard is $600 per acre, based on actual sales, one can readily see 
that since our compensation is only i_' ]/? per cent, of the profits, 
we must have unbounded faith in the Unit System and its applica- 
tion to orchards as well as being absolutely sure that Pecan Orchards 
in this locality will he highly profitable. We have the required 
faith and we know the profits are sure or we would not make this 
offer. 

Photographs of the property showing the progress of the 
trees on the plantation will be forwarded to each unit holder 
each year during the development period, later the Company 
will issue an annual crop report. 

Remember that the three hundred dollars cover every expense 
of developing your unit to bearing age. 

The contract of sale plainly states that the purchaser may after 
the first five years locate his home mi his units and look after his 
own trees, managing his property entirely independent of the com- 
pany. But we believe that our management and our methods ol 
marketing will prove so economical, efficient and satisfactory that 
the unit owners will always want the company to manage their 
units and harvest and market their pecans for them. 

If any unit holder, who is paying for his unit on the $5 per 
month basis, and shall have made promptly, upon the date called 
for by contract, eight or more monthly payments in addition to tin' 
initial payment of $10 should die before his payments of $300 per 
unit are completed, the company will upon proof of death (suicide 
excepted) furnish to his estate a (\w\ to his unit or units and ah 
further payments on the same shall cease. This protects the family 
or estate of the unit holder who meets his monthly payments 
promptly against all possibility of loss due to his death. 



A discount of 
1 0% for full 
cash payment 



Units full paid 
in case of 
death 



38 The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 

Each Unit Increases in Value $100 Per Year 

Remember that according to the most authentic information 
your orchard unit increases in value each year at the rate of $100 
per annum ; while you make your payments at the rate of only $65 
the first year and only $60 each year thereafter. 

From the minute the purchaser puts down the first $10 the 
contract of sale protects him — his is the opportunity to gain from 
the increase under the value of these units and to reap the profits 
from the constantly increasing crops of pecans, as soon as the trees 
begin to bear. 

Pecan Orchards Sell At $1000 Per Acre 

As closely as can be figured out a pecan orchard unit which 
is well established should sell at $1,000 or thereabouts. This figure 
is based upon actual sales of or offers for pecan orchards, most of 
which were planted with seedlings or varieties which are not so 
profitable as the finest grade paper shell pecans. 

From Waycross, Ga., we hear from A. C. Snedecker: 

"I do not know of any bearing or near-bearing groves for sale 
here or elsewhere. A four-acre grove thirteen years old, and not 
especially desirable, was sold at auction a few weeks ago to settle an 
estate, for $4,050.00." 

The Atlanta Constitution (one of the foremost newspapers 
in America) on January 27, njio, published an offer of $80,000 
for a pecan grove of eighty acres, which the owner, Mrs. Ramsey, 
declined, as she would not know how to so profitably and safely 
invest such a large amount elsewhere. 

The Americus Times Recorder reports that Airs. C. W. 
Gunnels, of Terrell, Ga., only a lew miles from the Keystone Pecan 
Company's property, refused a cash offer of $_>o,ooo for her grove 
of eleven or twelve acres, or very nearly $2,000 per acre. Most 
id' these trees were seedlings, with but a few budded trees — yet Mrs. 
Gunnels says she has an assured income from her pecan trees and 
knows that the trees will produce even larger crops as they grow 
1 ilder. 

An Attorney, of Albany, Ga., was authorized to pay $5,000 
for five acres of Mobile top-worked trees, 'flu's offer — $1,000 an 
acre — was refused. 



An Increase in Value of #100 Per Year Per Acre. 

Mr. E. B. Adams, Secretary of the Albany, Ga., Chamber of Commerce, 
writes: "Each season the Pecan groves enhance in value, it being agreed by emi- 
nent Pecan authorities that properly cared for Pecan groves increase $100 an 
acre in value each year." 

This is an investment where your principal increases and your income geti 
larger as the years roll by. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa. 



39 



There is good reason why $1,000 an acre is considered so low a 
selling price by the average owner of a hearing- orchard that it is 
only in rare instances that sales are consummated. 

A thousand dollars at interest yields at most #60 or $70 per year, while on con. 
servative figures an orchard unit, which costs you only $300 under our co-operative 
plan, should yield the seventh year, $64; the eighth year, $88; the ninth year, $168; 
:he tenth year, $346.60; the fifteenth year, $1,000, and the twentieth year, $1,800. 

The table below allows a conservative estimate of the probable 
yield of an acre orchard unit. We have made an exhaustive re- 
search and have based all our statements upon the most accurate 
and reliable information that we could possibly secure. 

Average Yield of Orchard Units 

Per tree based on 
average records of 
varieties developed 

4th year a few nuts 

5th year 2 to 3 lbs. 

6th year 4 to 5 lbs. 

7th year 7 to 9 lbs. 

8th year 10 to 12 lbs. 

9th year 18 to 25 lbs. 

10th year 37 to 50 lbs. 

15th year 100 to 150 lbs. 

20th year 1 50 to 300 lbs. 



Average Yield 
per tree 


Average Income 


Income 


'Juts at 40c. a lb. 


per tree 


per Unit 


2>/ 2 lbs. 


1.00 


20.00 


4'.. lbs. 


1.80 


36.00 


8 lbs. 


3.20 


64.00 


11 lbs. 


4.40 


88.00 


21 lbs. 


8.40 


168.00 


43', 'lbs. 


17.33 


346.60 


125 lbs. 


50.00 


1000.00 


225 lbs. 


90.00 


1800.00 



S722.60 
income at the 
end of ten 
years 



Possibly the figures in the table astound you. You think there 
is some mistake in them — because it is almost unbelievable that in 
less than ten years the aggregate sales from the unit should bring an 
income as great as your original investment, so that in effect you 
own your unit and get the subsequent returns without any of your 
money being invested. 

At the end of ten years your $300 investment has \ ielded you. 
on the basis of the above conservative table, $722.60. This means 
an average of over §72 per year for every year since your first pay- 
ment of $10 was made — or over $144 per annum for every one of 
the five bearing years. This last figure is equivalent to the 
interest on $2,400 at 6 per cent. 

These figures are astounding. Yet good authorities prove our Good author- 
table most moderate in its figures of yield. Note these records; 

K. Powell reports 465 pounds of Pecans from one tree in its twenty-second 
year. O. Lindsay reports 638 pounds of Pecans from one tree in its twenty-first 
year. J. B. McLean reports 900 pounds of Pecan- from one tree, age approxi- 
mately 40 years. J. B. Wight secured 7707 pounds of I'ecans by mi.: from a 
tree planted in 1892. The Country Gentleman reports the sales of one season's 
crop from this tree as yielding $150. 

H. A. Ilalbert. Coleman. Texas, says: "I consider the Paper Shell Pecan 
industry the safest, most profitable and lasting of all the industries that spring 
out of mother earth. 1 never had a Paper Shell Pecan tree yield me more than 
$253.25 in one year, and never less than $10 per tree after the native trees have 
been budded live years to Paper Shell Pecans." 



1 ties prove 
our estimate 
moderate 



40 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Yields re- 
ported twice 
to eight times 
as great as 
our table 



Our table 
based on 40c. 
per pound 
market 
average 50c. 



Results Should Far Exceed Our Figures 



Further evidence that 



figures of yield are most moderate 



is given by the following reports from the Albany Herald, the 



largest newspaper of the pecan growing district: 

One orchard in the district shows a sale of over i.ooo pounds of pecans at 
50c. to $1.00 a pound, from 7 acres of trees 7 years after planting. 

H. W. Jackson reports a yield of 50 lbs. per tree when 7 years old, of 35 to 
100 lbs. when S years old. 

J. R. Pinson reports a yield of 685 pounds from 246 trees in the fifth year. 

R. P. Jackson states that his .240. pecan trees yielded 1050 pounds the fifth 
year — an average of 4% pounds per tree, while our table shows 2 l />. 

Theo. Bechtel reports a yield of 30 lbs. of pecans the 7th year, and of 100 
pounds in the tenth year, which latter crop sold for $00. Ills yield for the tenth 
year is more than double the figures in our table. 

W. T. Jackson reports that one tree gave 11 pounds the 4th year, and 41 lbs. 
the fifth year; while his average per tree for his trees is 6 pounds the 41I1 year, [3 
pounds per tree the 5th year; 28 pounds the <>th and 53 pounds the 7th. 

Surely such statements, showing yields twice to eight times as 
great as our tables, prove our table of yields extremely conservative. 

This is also true of the selling price. We have indicated a sell- 
ing price of 40c. a pound, while past experience indicates that 50c. 
has been the average for various mixed grades and less desirable 
varieties not commanding so large a retail price as the Hess varieties. 

We are intentionally conservative. We want the investor in 
one, five or more of our orchard units to be agreeably surprised that 
the yield is greater and the price per pound higher than our table 
shows. Our interests and those of our investors are identical — 
selling a unit at our low sale, price benefits us little unless the return 



which is secured from the gathering 



sale of nuts is satisfactory. 



Why do We Sell Orchard Units ? 

We can answer that in a few words. 

To raise money for development purposes. 

To make it possible for us to meet the demand which already 
exists for the finest paper shell pecans. We want to plant our 
2,873 acre plantation to paper shell pecans as quickly as possible in 
order that we may share in the profits from selling car loads of 
pecans instead of tons. Every recent year we had to return the 
money received with orders for pecans because our supply was 
exhausted early. Some of our customers have already asked us to 
reserve paper shell pecans out of the coming crop to be delivered 
next holiday season. We have no doubt that even when our entire 
acreage is in bearing that we will lie as short of supplying the rapidly 
increasing demand as we are now. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim } -Pa, 



41 




In one part of 
the bearing pe- 
can orchard on 
the Keystone 
Plantation. At 
right, horticul- 
turist ; center, 
plantation 
manager; at 
left, Herbert 
Marsh, Cal- 
gary. (See his 
letter page 44.) 
Even with the 
foliage off, it is 
impossible to 
see to the ends 
of the long 
rows of bearing 
trees. 



Our Investors are found All Over the World 



Far-sighted people, who. after thorough investigation, have 
invested in Pecan Orchard Units under our co-operative plan, are 
found not only in every section of the United States, but in Canada 
and in many foreign countries. 

You will find them from Sandford, Maine, on the East to Oakland and 
Lompoc, California, on the West; from Miami, Florida, and El Paso, Texas, on 
the South, to Montreal and Calgary. Canada, on the North. In New York. 
Boston, Philadelphia. Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, Toledo. Detroit, Chi- 
cago, St. Louis, New Orleans and other large cities you will find those who are 
providing for the future by putting their money in Keystone Pecan Orchard Units. 

The strongest believers in our co-operative orchard proposition 
are keen business people, with ability to get at the facts, who have 
visited the plantation themselves, and have seen for themselves our 
hearing pecan orchards, our nursery, our planted units, then- in- 
tensive care and cultivation. On their return many have bought 
additional units — or recommended the investment to their friends 
The progress made is so evident that it becomes our best argument. 

Prospective investors and owners of orchard units are welcome 
any time at the plantation in order that they may see for themselves 
just what progress has been made and is being made. It is necessarj 
that we shall have undisputed control of the orchard during the first 
live years — the only period when close cultivation is required — in 
order that we may make g< >od on i air guarantee and turn i >ver ti i yi ui 
a successful orchard at the end of that period. But we shall he glad 
to have you establish a bungalow or cottage on the ground at any 
time afterward. 



Investiga- 
tions on the 
grounds 
prove our 
statements 
conservative 



We are glad 
to have you 
visit the 
plantation 



42 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



An Ideal Southern Home 



Where 
winter does 
not consume 
what the 
summer 
produces 



Fishing and 

hunting 

aplenty 




Practically every thought- 
ful man looks forward to the 
time when he may have a 
home where the winter rigors 
of the Northern climate shall 
not sap his vitality. No one 
need apologize for this long- 
ing — or consider it a sign of 
lack of vigor or backbone. 

For the tendency toward 
establishing homes in the 
South i^ not based alone on 
this desire for an agreeable, 
equable climate. It is founded 
on sound economic principles. 

In the North, the winter 
consumes the food which the 
summer produces. In the 
„. , r , „ „ fertile sections of Southern 

I he plantation house or the Keystone Pecan 

Co. From left to right: Elam G. Hess, pres.- Georgia a SUCCeSSlOn Of CTOpS 

dent of the Co.; M. G. Esbenshade, First Vice pl'Operlv planned makes the 

President; Thos. F. Miller, Sales Manager. whf ,, e yea| . productive. You 

can accomplish more in one year than in several years in the North. 
Vegetation is so rapid that in two years a home is surrounded by a 
growth of trees, flowers, shrubbery and growing crops which it 
would require five years to develop in a cooler. Northern clime. 

While the people of many Northern cities are chilled to the 
marrow in Winter, and swelter under the heat and humidity of 
Summer, the Government statistics show a surprisingly slight varia- 
tion between Winter and Summer in Southern ( Jeorgia. Here there 
is no enervating humidity compared to that found in the Northern 
and Central Atlantic States. 

Here is the ideal home — "where the sun shines bright, and the 
meadow's in bloom" — where good fishing and hunting abound — 
where the call of the "Bob White" is heard from September to 
March — where the outdoor life is the natural, healthful life the 
year round. 

Not A Crop Missed for Fifteen to Twenty Years. 
U. S. Bulletin, page 319, in speaking of the Mantnra Pecan, says: 
"Up to 1907 it has not missed a crop for 15 to 20 years, the crop for the 

previous ten years having averaged 100 pounds, and for several years 150 to 275 

pounds." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim,' Pa. 



43 



Here with the tine southern town of Albany only a short dis- 
tance away, with tine roads extending roundabout in all directions, 
you may live on a typical plantation. 

While Nature, soil and sun combine to produce profitable Fine town 
crops on die Pecan trees which have been turned over to you a nearby 
bearing orchard, you may fish, boat <>v swim on the beautiful Lake 
Marcelia — a twenty-five acre lake right on our plantation. The 
water for this lake originates in Crystal Springs, the banks of the 
lake are devoid of swamps and are surrounded by beautiful groves 
■ if live oak, covered with the beautiful Spanish Moss — an air plant 
which, like other parasitic growths, cannot grow on the pecan tree. 

We expect eventually U < erect a club house or hotel on the 
banks of this lake where unit owners may be accommodated should 
they wish to spend their vacation here enjoying the delightful 
climate of Southern Georgia during the cold winter season of the 
north, enjoying hunting and fishing. 

When you live amid such surroundings — you really live. 

The country all about is so attractive that many a matt in the A southern 
North would be glad to pay $300 for an acre on which to build a home-site 
southern home. If he planted on that acre only enough pecan trees 
to yield an average income of $18 per year, he would have six per 
cent, interest from his money. One tree should yield more than 
$19 per year, on an average, from the fifth to the twentieth 
year. Why be satisfied with a single tree when there is room for 
twenty trees and a small bungalow on your acre? 




One of our unit holders, Mr. N. H. Warschburger, Canton, Ohio, (in the foreground) admired 
so greatly the beauties of Lake Marcelia that he suggested that it be reserved for a villa site. 



44 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



This wagon con- 
tains about five 
hundred dollars 
worth of dormant 
pecan trees. Trans- 
planting is now in 
full swing ; thous- 
ands of holes are 
dug, ready for 
these budded and 
grafted trees of the 
finest varieties of 
pecans. 




Letter from Herbert Marsh, Calgary, Canada, Feb. 9th, 1918, after a visit to our plantation in midwinter 

My Dear Mr. Hess: 

Now that 1 am back in Calgary, I feel 
that the least I can do is to put briefly in 
writing, my impressions of your Georgia Plan- 
tation. 

I must admit that before I went down 
to see that plantation, I was mentally from 
Missouri. Before I originally invested in a 
Keystone Pecan Orchard I investigated the 
matter from every angle I could think of. I 
doubt whether any man who invested with 
you investigated more thoroughly than I did. 

But my friends kept reminding me that 
it is a long way from Calgary to Georgia. 
"Have you seen it for yourself?" they asked. 

Now I can say "Yes. I saw it all, and 
it all looks so good that if I had ten times as 
much money as I have, I would carry fifteen 
or twenty times my present acreage." 

Of course, it was a welcome surprise to 
find Albany such a fine, hustling town; with 
a climate all through this locality so mild that 
within four days after 1 left Calgary, where 
the temperature was 25 degrees below zero, I 
was going around without a coat or hat much 
of the time on the plantation. Oh, for a home 
in the Sunny South, on the shores of the beau- 
tiful Lake Marcelia ! 

But to have such a home requires money. 
And after what I saw I know that my grow- 
ing pecan trees will earn me the money. I 
KNOW this now. Because T have seen so 

When my pecan trees get this size they will shelter matl y bi 8> bearin g P eca " trees ri § ht on >' our 

me against want while I live in the balmy south. So plantation, have examined the soil here and 111 

large is this old, bearing orchard of the Keystone Pecan various units on all parts of the plantation. 
Co. that it took till lunch time to traverse it and take Never before have I seen such soil. A 

our photographs. man could scrape a hole deep as his knee by 




Keystone Pecan Company. Mariheim, Pa. 



45 



the use of his shoe alone, and all through find it a hlack. rich 
loam of the kind that holds moisture. 

Yet the thousands of holes dug ready for the planting of 
small trees showed, in every ease I examined, the same clay 
bottom and rich subsoil to which the deep descending pecan 
roots are so adaptable. 

I was astounded to see how deeply the pecan roots, but 
that tap root which it sends down so far underground is good 
assurance against drought and storms alike. 

After looking over the bearing orchards throughout this 
district ; after noting your ideal location, your more even char- 
acter of soil; your wonderful precision in planting which 
makes cultivation so easy, I am convinced that I am most 
fortunate to have become an investor in a Keystone Pecan 
Orchard. 

I have made notations on the pictures taken January 25, 
1918 — during my visit — and I trust you will feel free to use 
these or my letter in your correspondence. 

Very truly yours, Herbert Marsh. 



f 




Below, the sales manager, plan- 
tation manager and horticulturist 
of the Keystone Pecan Co. in 
the young orchards. 




Above, Mr. Marsh and 
Mr. Hess alongside a four 
year tree, which is about 
twelve feet high and finely 
formed. 




46 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Why your 
investment 
is secure 



Investigate the Company — and its Officers 

Because the most conservative statement of yield from our 
pecan units sounds too good to be true, we have found that it was 
necessary to urge prospective purchasers to investigate every phase 
of the company. 

For this reason, the men who have invested most largely are 
always the men most capable of getting at the real facts — and act- 
ing on their own knowledge, lawyers, bank officials, doctors, den- 
tists, ministers, school-teachers, business-managers, merchants, 
bookkeepers and others of the most intelligent classes are becoming 
owners of one, five, ten and fifty unit orchards because their in- 
vestigation has shown : 

First. That the Company is financially strong — a $150,000 
corporation, which received its charter in 191 1 from the Superior 
Court of Georgia. Subsequent to the incorporation, the Company 
purchased what its officers believed to be the finest plantation in Cal- 
houn County for its growth and development of Paper Shell 
Pecans. The plantation consists of -2,873 acres of land, which is 
being gradually developed and planted in Pecan Orchards. From 
the date of the purchase the Company has expended large sums of 
money annually upon tbe development of the property and each 
passing year sees a greater expenditure upon property development 
and permanent property improvement. Latest approved methods 
are sought and applied; and notwithstanding all this, the entire 
plantation is subject to a lien of only twenty-three thousand dollars, 
or almost exactly eight dollars per acre. For the purpose of safe- 
guarding the unit owners a special trustee was appointed whose duty 
it is to see that the company's receipts from orchard sales are ap- 
propriated to the development of the orchards sold, the planting of 
new orchards and the reduction of the lien until the same shall have 
been extinguished entirely. This result will be achieved before the 
Company shall have conveyed one-half of its orchards. — a unique 
record among modern business concerns. The Trustee plan was 
specially devised for the protection of Unit buyers, and we know of 
no Company that has devised a safer plan. It is the production of 
the most careful consideration given in the interest of the Unit 
buyer. When you are safe, we are safe also. 

Second. That the orchards are under capable supervision. 
The active officers of the Company were close students of pecan 
growing for years previous to 191 I. 

"Pecan growing is subject to none of the perils of stock or cattle raising, 
such as hoof and mouth disease. The pecan is of the hickory family. It defies 
drought and frost. Yet Pecan meat is growing in popularity, while the produc- 
tion of animal flesh fails to keep pace with the population." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim,Pa. 



47 



Realizing the fact that the making of profits depends in part 
on the skill of the orchardist, the Company employed as Superintend- 
ent of Orchards an educated, practical horticulturist, having a large 
pecan grove of his own, where he earned a reputation as an orchard- 
ist that secured him highest recommendation of well known authori- 
ties. The fact that such a man accepted the position with the 
Keystone Pecan Company is a tribute to the possibilities of this 
plantation, for he is too ardent a lover of pecans and regards his 
reputation too highly to engage in an orchard proposition where 
there is the least element of chance. 

For a plantation manager they chose a man who knows even' 
inch of the property, and who has demonstrated exceptional ability 
in handling the problem in all its phases. 

Third. That the Company has the character of soil, the 
kind of budded trees, and the shipping facilities needed to fill 
the demand for better grade pecans which come from all over 
America and abroad. The immediate district in which our plan- 
tation is located is the natural home of the pecan. 

Fourth. That this Company hail recently proved by actual 
sales, made from advertising, that these liner grade pecans could 
be sold to the retail trade at prices titty per cent, higher than most 
pecan growers secure for their finest product — because of superior 
quality of the nuts ami superior methods of merchandising. 

Fifth. The Company has demonstrated also that its manage- 
ment is capable and efficient. Every one is interested heartily in 
the success of the orchards. All are men of unquestioned honor 
and ability: as inquiry in their home cities will prove. They are. 
as the following pages show, men old enough anil experienced 
enough to capably manage the business, yet young enough to retain 
their business capacity and vigor for many years to come. 




The freight 
station on 
our planta- 
tion which 
enables us to 
ship prompt- 
ly and econ- 
omically over 
the Georgia 
Central Rail- 
road. 



48 The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 




ELAM G. HESS 



Elam G. Hess, President of the Keystone Pecan Co., is a resident of Man- 
heim, Lancaster Co., Pa., and is well and favorably known, not only throughout 
Lancaster County, but in many parts of America. Mr. I less, who is forty-one 
years of aye, worked on his father's farm in Lancaster County until he was 
eighteen years of age. Pie taught public school for five years, prepared for col- 
lege at Perkiomen Seminary, graduating in 1902, and in 1906 graduated from 
Gettysburg College. He had acted as a traveling salesman during his summer 
vacations for Underwood & Underwood. Xew York, and had built such a reputa- 
tion for fair dealing among the best class of trade that he was appointed field 
manager, along with Mr. Thomas F. Miller. After serving in this capacity for 
two years, he was sent to England to represent the same company. 

In his travels he was impressed with the opportunities which existed for 
finer grade pecan nuts, and began to make an exhaustive study of their produc- 
tion and their selling possibilities — one result of which has been the formation 
of the Keystone Pecan Company. 

Mr. Hess devotes his entire time to the success of the Company, and is 
an acknowledged authority mi pecan nuts, their growth and their marketing. 

Reference: Kevstor.e National Bank, Manheim, Pa. 



A. S. Perry, Secretary of the National Nut Growers Association, 

writes under date of February J. 1918, to Mr. Hess: "1 have noted with a great deal of 
pleasure your full page ad. in the January number of Physical Culture. 

"Such publicity is certain to be of great benefit to the entire industry, and I cannot resist 
the impulse to write you and thank you fur it. 

"While I have never seen your place, yet I am familiar with the soil and other conditions 
in Calhoun County, and do not know of a better pecan country. 

"A. S. Pkrkv. Sec'v." 



Keystone Pecan Company, Mahheim, Pa. 



49 




M. G. ESBENSHADE 



M. G. Esbenshade 

First Vice-President of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

lives 'in the farm in Lancaster Co. on which 
he -pent liis boyhood days. (R. F. D. No. 3.) 
He is noted throughout the county and beyond 
as a successful grower of tobacco and potatoes. 
He is 43 years of age. a graduate of Lanca b 
Business College, a director of the Farmers' 
Association of Lancaster County, one of the 
Founders of the Agricultural Trust Co. of Lan- 
caster, of which he is a director. 

In his extensive travels throughout thf 
United States he ha- visited nearly every State. 
Mr. Esbenshade has received valuable first 
hand information on the growing and market- 
ing of large food crops — especially nuts. In 
1895 he traveled widely in Florida, paying 
special attention to orange ami citrus fruit 
groves and pineapple fields, and in 1897 he 
worked with the large growers of wheat in 
Dakota and California and in the apple or- 
chards of Colorado. In 1905 he made another 
trip south, studying the groves along the Gulf 
Coasl in which wild and seedling pecans were 
raised, since which time he has made several 
trips throughout the south with special refer- 
ence to Paper Shell Pecans. 

Reference: The Agricultural Trust Com- 
pany of Lancaster, Pa. 



Enos H. Hess 

Second Vice-President of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

lives on the farm on which he was reared 
R. F. D. No. 3, Lancaster. Pa. He is 40 years 
of age. He is noted as a truck farmer, selling 
In own products to Lancaster Citj consumers 
at famous Lancaster Market-, which he attend- 
twice a week. 

Formerly a director of the Ide.al Cocoa 
Company, Lititz. Pa. 

Reference: Farmer-' Trust Co.. Lan< 
Pa 




ENOS H. HESS 



50 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 




F. G. Young 

Secretary and Treasurer of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

is a dealer in real estate and real estate invest- 
ment securities with offices in the Woolworth 
Building, Lancaster. Pa. After thoroughly in- 
vestigating the possibilities of nut culture, and 
especially pecan nut culture in southwest 
Georgia, and the constantly increasing demand 
for nut meat, became connected with the Key- 
stone Pecan Company. 

A native of Indiana, where he engaged suc- 
cessfully with the Blickensderfer Mfg. Co. 
with offices in Indianapolis, and subsequently 
at Cleveland, Ohio. 

He has resided in Lancaster for about twelve- 
years, and is known as a highly successful 
salesman. 

Reference : Union Trust Co., Lancaster, Pa. 



F. G. YOUNG 



Joseph Seitz 

Director of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

is a native of Lancaster Co.. residing at Mount- 
ville, Pa., formerly a farmer, now a dealer in 
leaf tobacco. 

Reference : Northern National Bank, of Lan- 
caster, Pa. 




JOSEPH SEITZ 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Pa 



51 




M. G. Hess 

Director of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

is 53 years of age. He resides at Manheim. 
Pa., and was for about twenty years cashier 
of the Keystone National Bank of Manheim. 

He is now Treasurer and General Manager 
of the Manheim Mfg. and Belting Co. — a highly 
successful business. 

Reference: Manheim National Bank. 



M. G. HESS 

Willis G. Kendig 

Director of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

is the well known corporation lawyer of Lancaster. Me is widely known as a lawyer of keen 
discrimination regarding commercial enterprises, and the fact that he and -.1 111.1115 associates 
from the richest agricultural county in the United States place their money in this Georgia 
pecan orchard is evidence of it- worth. .Mr. Kendig is 4.? years of age: the son of a doctor 
of Salunga, Pa., who also enjoyed a most excellent reputation in his field. 
Reference: Fulton National Bank. 



Joseph A. Phillips 

Director of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

Mayor of Mercersburg. Franklin County. Pa., 
age" 58. He has been a seed merchant for 
twenty-seven years, doing a broad business, for 
which" the first twenty-three years of his life — 
spent on the farm — has well fitted him. 

Reference: First National Bank of Mercers- 
burg. 




JOSEPH A. PHILLIPS 



52 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan, 



B. L. Johnson 

Director of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

resides in Allentown, Pa., and is Sales Mana- 
ger for that district — embracing important 
counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey — for 
the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, a 
$16,500,000 corporation, which is known all 
over the world. Mr. Johnson is known 
throughout the Allentown district as a self- 
made man, who has at an early age held posi- 
tions of trust and responsibility because of his 
earnest and efficient work and his remarkable 
• unless judgment. 
Reference : Penn Counties Trust Co. 




B. L. JOHNSON 

Dr. J. S. Swartzwelder 

Director of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

is a prominent physician of Mercersburg, also a Bank Director, and is well known in nearby 
territory as a conservative man. 




L. B. Coddington 

Director of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

is a resident of Murray Hill, New Jersey, 
where he has been successfully engaged in the 
Wholesale Rose Growing Industry for twenty- 
three years. The cut flowers from his green- 
In mses are sold wholesale in New York City 
and Brooklyn and nearby towns He is a noted 
floriculturist, and one of the largest rose grow- 
ers in the United States. 
Reference : Summit Trust Co., Summit N. J. 



L. B. CODDINGTON 



Keystone ream Company, Manheim, Pa. 



?i 




Thos. F. Miller 

Sales Manager of the Keystone Pecan Co. 

is 44 years of age. A graduate of State Normal N 
and also of Lebanon Valley College, and taught public 
school three years? He has had long, successful ex- 
perience in selling, and was sixteen years in the em- 
ploj of I nderwood & Underwood, and was associated 
with Flam G. Hess, President of the Company, as 
Field Manager, appointing and drilling hundreds of suc- 
cessful salesmen fur their Travel System. He resides in 
Allentown, Pa.; member of the Chamber 'if Commerce, 
of Allentown, and is favorably known a- a man of 
high ability and good reputation. Note his letter below. 
Reference: Merchants National Bank. 



THOS. F. MILLER 



Thos. F. Miller 

950 Jackson Street, Allentown, Pa. 

Allentown, Pa., May 24, 191 5. 
Elam G. Hess. Pres. Keystone Pecan Co., 

Manheim, Pa. 
Dear Mr. Hess: 

Your communication asking me to write a letter stating "How I became interested in Paper 
Shell Pecan culture and in the Keystone Pecan Company" received. 

My interest in this new industry and my ambition to some day own a pecan orchard d 
back before the Keystone Pecan Co. was in existence. My study of this improved nut, its 
food value, the whole world to supply, its advantages over other tree crops, in harvesting, 
packing, shipping, not perishable, besides the long life of the trees and the small expense of 
up-keep after the fifth year, and the wonderful yield satisfied me that it was the safest and 
most profitable industry I know. 

When you conceived and formed the Keystone Pecan Company with its co-operative plan 
f saw my opportunity and invested and purchased Units. I laving been in busines with you for 
so many years and knowing your capacity to plan big business and your ability to carry your 
plans to perfection, also the other members of the company being known as clean, honest and 
progressive business men, gave me explicit confidence. 

When you wanted me to become sales manager I decided to visit the plantation. In Oc- 
tober. 1913, in company with some of mj friends, 1 made my first visit. We were delighted 
beyond expression with everything. Competent management which seemed to be working out 
a perfect system. The trees and tons of pecans and acres of vigorous thrift)" young tree- was 
evidence enough to com nice anyone that this is the soil and climate where pecans do their 
best. My friends with me invested, and to my knowledge every one who has visited the plan- 
tation since has invested as ninth us their circumstances would permit. Some have assumed 
heavy obligation so that they and their family would be provided with a permanent and in- 
creasing income through life and possiblj a centurj or more thereafter. We feel that we must 
work hard now to support our units for a short time, but later they will work for us and sup- 
port us. The enthusiasm of those who have been on the plantation and invi 1 and know 
the men back of it, and who have invested their own money, is the strongest kind of evidence 
of the merit of the proposition. Yours sincereh 

THOS. F. MILLER. 



54 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



Productive 
land — yielding 
needed 
food of 
highest value 




Another View of Lake Marcelia, giving a better idea of its twenty-five acre expanse of clear, 
limpid water fed by crystal springs. 

No Investment Could be Safer 

Think it over. Let your own judgment decide. Ask yourself 
these questions in regard to any investment you have under con- 
sideration. 

What is the security back of my investment? In the Key- 
stone Pecan Co. there is an acre of land which becomes yours on the 
payment of $300. Remember this — you own the acre of land itself. 

Land is the safeguard of this safe investment. Land can- 
in it burn up, cannot be stolen: land cannot be wiped out by panics. 
The biggest trusts base their bond issues and their mortgages on 
land — yet the manufacturing plants which are built on that land 
may, due to panic, fail to produce enough to pay interest on the 
blinds or mortgages. Many of the largest industrial companies have 
suspended or decreased dividends since the European War started — ■ 
yet nature continues to provide foodstuffs and man still needs 
to eat them. 

Productive land is the best of land investments. Tree cr< >ps 
are the profitable crops, which make land most productive. Note 
that the Country Gentleman tells of single trees making more human 
food than a whole acre of Kentuckv blue grass. 



Orders Twelve Pounds — Wants Prices on Larger Quantities 

"Have also received the box of Hess Pecans, which I find satisfactory as 
illustrated in every respect. Kindly send me a 12 pound carton of same variety. 
Uso kindly give me your prices on larger quantities." A. B., Portland, Oregon. 



Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim,' Pa. 55 



The pecan is the surest of profitable crops — because after 
the first five years, during which we assume all the risks, the pecan 
requires practically no attention. Gathering the nuts and selling 
them represents the bulk of the effort required after the first five 
years. 

You cannot be deceived on this score — because we bind our- 
selves by contract to do this work for 12 '2 per cent, of the profits. 
Would we deceive ourselves — could we afford to take any chances 
if we did not know that the pecan is as hardy a tree as the hickory 
or oak. and a surer profit payer than any other crop of any sort ? 

We could not give such a guarantee on a fruit tree — fur even- 
farmer knows that apples and peaches are subject to many perils 
of frost, storm, blight, borer, and of loss in shipment. Pecans are 
hardier than hickory nuts, they cannot lie shaken off the tree till 
ripe. Citrus fruits — like oranges and grape fruit — are liable to 
Frost, and spoil so quickly that it is impossible to hold them long 
before marketing. Paper Shell Pecans can lie held a year without 
losing their delicious flavor and nutritive value ; for nature has 
provided them with a perfect container (shell) which shuts out 
impurities and prevents deterioration. 

There can be no glut of fine pecans — because they can be raised 
only in limited territory, they have the whole world for a market 
and the whole vear for a selling season. As the famous Luther 
Burbank well say- 1 see page 19 ) : "We have now one pecan where 
we ought to have a million to create a market." 

An assured increasing market for perfected pecans, at an ex- 
cellent profit, is back of every dollar you invest here. 



Who Should Invest in Pecan Orchards ? 

To provide an income for later years, "lie must." says the The young 
American Fruit and Nut Journal, "look to a business that will in- """> 
crease in value and returns. The improved Pecan orchard fulfills 
all these requirements. It is safe, pays little at the beginning, hut 
increases its income gradually, and when ten or fifteen years old 
will yield ten times more than the same money would in almost 
anv other business 



"On many articles of food, from meat- to fruits, the cost of loss in trans- 
portation eats the heart out of the profits. Pecans require no refrigeration; kept 
in any cool, dry place without loss <>r deterioration, can be shipped all over the 
World — fear no competition from abroad for they are grown only in the 
limited districts in America." 



56 



The Story of the Paper Shell Pecan. 



The man of 
middle-age 
and above 



Husbands 
and parents 



Business and 
professional 
people — all 
men or 
women zvith 
foresight 



Who Should Invest in Keystone Pecan Orchards ? 

(Continued from page 55.) 

To provide now while his earning" power is at its greatest, fi >r 
those years when his energy begins to ebb — let him plant his money 
where it grows. As J. B. Wight said before the American 
Pomological Society : "Plant a pecan grove, and when you are old, it 
will support you." * * * It will lighten your burdens while 
here, and when you are gone your children and your children's chil- 
dren will rise up and call you blessed." 

'I'd provide an annuity for their wives and families, which will 
exceed in annual return any equal investment for the purpose and 
which will yield a growing income each year. No father wants to 
look forward and see the home broken up for lack of income, the 
wife deprived of comfort and the children deprived of education — 
because he put oft till the morrow, which never comes, this invest- 
ment for their protection. 

Business and professional incomes vary greatly. There should 
be some provision for the years of reduced earning power — when 
conditions beyond your control cut to a mere fraction the satis- 
factory income of last year. Because pecan orchards have their 
foundation in land, because Nature yields her crops abundantlv de- 
spite wars and panics, because the demand for Hess Pecans, which 
we have proved within, was not affected by the hard times in the 
winter of I9i_|.-'i5, you know that here is a dependable source of 
income. The period of uncertainty on pecans is the first five years 
— when we assume the risk ! 

"For want and age save while you may, 
No morning sun shines the whole day," 



says Men Franklin. Are you saving for the "rainy day?" Ask 
yourself that question — and insist on a fair answer. 

Accept no excuses — excuses will not provide fur you and your 
li wed ones in years to come. 

Don't saw "I'll begin to invest when I get a larger income." 
If your income were reduced a tenth to-day — you would manage 
to live on the balance. Put that tenth now where it will protect you 
against "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." 

Orchard Unit Applications are Enclosed for Your Convenience. 

Select which you may desire, full cash payment or deferred payments. 



Keystone Pecan Company 



Southern Office, on our PlantatK 
Calhoun County, Georgia 



Northern Office 
Woolworth Building, Lancaster. Pa. 



President's Office 
Manheim, Lancaster County, Pa. 



Please mail all Applications and Checks to Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 



DEFERRED PAYMENT 

Pecan Orchard Unit Application 

To ELAM G. HESS, Pres. 

Keystone Pecan Co. , 191 

Manheim, Pa. 

/ hereby apply for Orchard Units of the Keystone Pecan Company, 

How Many 

situate in Calhoun County, Georgia, and I agree to pay for the same at the rate of 
Three Hundred Dollars ($300) per Unit, as follows : 

Dollars accompanying this application, the receipt thereof 

(£10 for each unit dejired) 

is hereby acknowledged by the Company, and Dollars per 

(#5 per month per unit) 

month, payable on the first of each and etery month until the entire purchase price is 
paid, at Which time I am to receive a Warranty Deed in fee simple for the Units pur- 
chased. It is understood that each Unit shall be planted to tWenty (20) Paper Shell 
Pecan Trees of the standard 'barieties. If my payments are made promply on the 
first day of each month, the Company hereby agrees that my Units shall become full 
paid in case of my death, as fully explained on the reverse side of this application. 

Signed 

Application accepted for the Company by 



Street and No. 
City and State 



CASH PAYMENT- 10% DISCOUNT 

Pecan Orchard Unit Application 

To ELAM G. HESS, Pres. 

Keystone Pecan Co. , 191 

Manheim, Pa. 

/ hereby apply for Orchard Units of the Keystone "Pecan Company 

How Many 

situate in Calhoun County, Georgia, and I agree to pay for the same at the rate of 
Three Hundred Dollars ($300) per Unit, on the following understanding: 

That accompanying this application I shall make remittance of $270 per Unit and 
shall receive full paid receipt and deed for Unit, the Company allowing ten per cent, 
for cash With application. 

Signed 

Application accepted for the Company by 

Street and No. 

City and State 



Units. Full Paid in Case of Death 

If any unit-holder, who is paying for his unit on the 
$5.00 per month basis and shall have made promptly 
upon the date called for by contract, eight or more 
monthly payments in addition to the initial payment of 
$10.00, should die before his payments of $300.00 per 
unit are completed, the company will upon proof of 
death (suicide excepted) furnish to his estate a deed to 
his unit or units and all further payments on the same 
shall cease. This protects the family or estate of the 
unit-holder who meets his monthly payments promptly, 
against all possibility of loss due to his death. 



. trbORY OF CONGReSS 

mil 

000 91° »™ M 



